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1 \ 


GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKY 


JOHN R. PROCTER, Director 



OCCURRENCE OF PETROLEUM, NATURAL 
GAS AND ASPHALT ROCK 

—IN— 


WESTERN KENTUCKY, 


BASED ON EXAMINATIONS MADE IN 1888 AND 1889, BY 


EDWARD ORTON. 


PRINTED FOR THE SURVEY BY E. FOLK JOHNSON, PUBLIC PRINTER AND BINDER FRANKFORT, KV. 



























I* 




TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Letter or Transmittal. 3 

Chapter 1. — Early history of petroleum and its derivatives. . .5 to 8 

Chapter 2.—Modern history of petroleum and its derivatives.9 to 26 

Process pursued in sinking a salt well, 11; the paraffine industry, 15; nat¬ 
ural gas—its discovery and uses, 21; first uses of natural gas, 22. 

Chapter 3.—The origin of petroleum and gas.27 to 61 

Origin of petroleum, 31; theories of chemical origin, 31; theories of or¬ 
ganic origin, 34; theory of origin from primary decomposition of organic 
matter, 36; Hunt’s theory, 36; theory of origin from distillation, 38; New¬ 
berry’s theory, 39; Peckham’s theory, 41; discussion of Peckham’s theory-, 

45; discussion of Newberry’s theory, 48; discussion of Hunt’s theory, 49. 

Chapter 4.—Geology of petroleum.62 to 102 

Laws of accumulation of petroleum and gas, 63; the reservoir, 63; sand¬ 
stones as reservoirs, 64; limestones as reservoirs, 67; shales as reservoirs, 69; 
extent of reservoirs, 70; permeability of reservoirs, 70; cover of reservoirs, 

72; structure of oil-bearing rocks, 73; anticlines, 75; terrace structure, 81; 
presence of salt water in oil and gas rocks, 83; demonstration of artesian 
theory, 87; discovery of petroleum and gas, 91; surface indications, 94; 
geological indications, 97; order of series, 98; arrangement of rocks, 99. 

Chapter 5. — Utilization of natural gas, including methods of transportation 

and measurement.103 to 126 

Physical properties of natural gas, 105; chemical composition of natural 
gas, 106; fuel value of natural gas, 110; various uses of natural gas, 111; 
transportation of natural gas, 114; measurements of gas wells and pipe 
lines, 117; use of anemometer, 119; use of Pitot tube, 120. 

Chapter 6.—Geological scale and geological structure of Western Kentucky, 127 to 142 
Geological series of Western Kentucky, 127; geological structure of West¬ 
ern Kentuckv, 137. 

Chapter 7. — Production of petroleum and its derivitives in Western Ken¬ 
tucky. 143 to 221 

Cumberland county oil field, 144; Allen county wells, 145; Barren county 
wells, 149; Warren county wells, 157; Hopkinsviile well, 162; Lagrange 
wells, 166; Louisville wells, 169; Meade county wells, 170; further explora¬ 
tions in Ohio Valley, 190; Cloverport wells, 191; Owensboro well, 194; 
Henderson wells, 194; Rough creek anticline, 198; Sebree wells, 201; High¬ 
land Lick well, 204; tar springs and bituminous sandstones, 206; tar springs 
of Breckinridge county, 207; tar springs of Grayson county, 209; percent¬ 
age of bituminous matter, 211; utilization of bituminous rock, 212; bitu¬ 
minous sandstones, 215; statement of Charles B. Palmer, 219. 










LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Geological map of portions of Ohio and Indiana, based on Newberry’s map of 

Ohio and Collett’s map of Indiana. By Edward Orton .... Facing page 19 
Map of oil regions of Pennsylvania and New York. By John F. Carll and C. 

A. Ashburner.Facing page 21 

Microscopic structure of the Trenton limestone.Facing page 68 

General section from Frankfort to Owensboro.Facing page 189 

Section showing strata from Moreman’s wells south-east to Potter’s creek wells in 

Meade county.Facing page 184 

Geological map of Kentucky, showing section from Owensboro to Frankfort, and 
Bough creek anticlinal.In pocket. 


NOTE. 

Since the writing of this report, the “ Kentucky Rock Gas Company ” has 
changed its firm name. It is now known as “ The Kentucky Heating and Lighting 
Gas Company.” 


I 









LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 


Hon. John R. Procter, 

State Geologist of Kentucky: 

Dear Sir : I herewith transmit the manuscript of the report 
which I have prepared under your direction, on the various 
products of the bituminous series, viz: inflammable gas, pet¬ 
roleum tar springs and asphalt rock, as they occur in the 
western half of Kentucky. My report is based on a series of 
examinations made in the held during the summer months of 
1888 and 1889. In the course of these examinations I visited 
every locality in which practical exploration by the drill was, 
at the time, going forward, and obtained first-hand information, 
as far as possible, as to the facts upon which 1 have made re¬ 
port. I also collected the most authentic statements available 
as to previous experience in the search for petroleum in the 
districts within which such explorations had gone forward. 

As an introduction to the record of these facts of observation, 
I have given a brief review of the theories as to the origin and 
accumulation of petroleum and natural gas which command the 
largest measure of intelligent acceptance at the present time. 
The remarkable extension of the use of natural gas as fuel, 
which has been made in a few sections of the country during 
the last ten years, has awakened a widespread interest in this 
subject in particular, and questions pertaining to the origin, 
nature and duration of the supply are sure to be raised in every 
community that enters upon the search for the new fuel. The 
doctrines to which I have given prominence in this portion of 
my report will, if accepted, lead such communities as are for¬ 
tunate enough to secure a good supply of this best of all forms 
of stored power which the world contains, to use it from the 
first with the strictest economy. Under the light of all the 
experience that is now available, a town that shall hereafter 



4 


LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 


discover gas enough for public utilization ought to receive far 
more benefit from the discovery than it would have done at an 
earlier day. 

You must permit me to make public acknowledgment of the 
constant and cordial assistance that I have received from you 
and from the entire force of your office in every way in which 
my work could be facilitated. 

So uniform was the kindness and courtesy that I met in the 
prosecution of my inquiries, that it is almost invidious to select 
the names of any persons for special mention in this connec¬ 
tion ; but there are a few gentlemen from the districts in which 
I spent most of my time whose painstaking services I do not 
feel at liberty to pass by without express acknowledgments. 
In this list I include Major W. J. Davis, Louisville; Hon. 
Alonzo Moreman and Judge O. C. Richardson, Brandenburg; 
James Montgomery, Esq., Elizabethtown ; Father J. J. Abell, 
Colesburg; Hon. David R. Murray and W. H. Bower, Esq., 
Cloverport; Gen. D. L. Adair, Hawesville; Hon. R. S. Trip¬ 
lett, Owensboro ; Col. L. Green, Falls of Rough ; Dr. Pinckney 
Thompson, Henderson; Hon. Geo. Huston, Morganfield ; Hon. 
J. C. Hendrick, Smithland; Col. M. H. Crump, Bowling Green 
and W. T. Knott, Esq., Lebanon. 

Very respectfully, 

EDWARD ORTON. 


Columbus, Ohio, April 2 , 1891. 


CHAPTER I. 


THE EARLY HISTORY OP PETROLEUM AND ITS DE¬ 
RIVATIVES. 


Petroleum is one of a definitely characterized class of sub¬ 
stances which are widely distributed in the rocks of the earth’s 
crust, and which have been known to man from the earliest times 
of which we have any records. Petroleum, strictly speaking, is 
to be distinguished on the one hand from the volatile naphtha, 
and on the other, from the semi-fluid, mineral tar, which is 
sometimes called maltha, but the boundary lines on both sides 
are indefinite. Mineral tar passes in turn into mineral pitch, or 
asphalt, a black or brownish-black solid, which breaks with a 
conchoidal fracture, and which melts and burns at comparatively 
low temperatures. The naphtha above referred to gives rise to 
natural gas in its volatilization ; and thus the series, fully ex¬ 
panded, is seen to consist of these five distinct and separable 
substances, viz: natural gas, naphtha, petroleum, mineral tar, 
mineral pitch, or asphalt. 

The entire group, with the exception of the gaseous form, is 
known as bitumens. In chemical composition they are all 
hydro-carbons, belonging principally to the methane, or marsh 
gas series. Petroleum is seen to arise from naphtha by the 
escape of its volatile matter and by the subsequent oxidation of 
the liquid residue. Still further oxidation converts petroleum 
into mineral tar, and a continuation of the same process gives 
rise at length to the most permanent form, asphalt. We have no 
knowledge of any other mode of origin of this last-named sub¬ 
stance than that which is here indicated. Such a history would 
lead us to expect a varied composition in the entire series, and 




6 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


this expectation is fully realized in the results of chemical 
analysis. Each member of the series contains more or less of 

t/ 

those that lie below it in order. 

In the earlier history of these bodies, asphalt and mineral tar 
took the most prominent place. Their occurrence in large quan¬ 
tity in the neighborhood of several ancient centers of civiliza¬ 
tion, and especially in the valley of the Euphrates, led to their 
use there on a large scale. Prof. 8. F. Peckliam, in his article 
on petroleum and its products, in Vol. X of the Special Reports 
of the Tenth Census of the United States, gives a number of 
facts pertaining to their occurrence in these regions. 

The accounts in the Book of Genesis of the Deluge of Noah, 
and of the building of the Tower of Babel, are undoubtedly of 
a high antiquity. The pitch with which the Ark was to be 
covered inside and out (Genesis VI, 14) is the mineral tar of the 
Euphrates Valley. It is used even to this day, as modern trav¬ 
elers inform us, for coating the bottoms of boats in this same 
region. The slime that is said to have been used for mortar in 
the construction of the Tower of Babel (Gen., XI:3) is the same 
substance. So, also, the slime pits of the vale of Siddim (Gen., 
XIU:10) indicate the locality from which this tar was derived in 
part. These references to this bituminous series are undoubt¬ 
edly among the earlier ones that are now accessible to us. 

The ancient cities of Ninevali and Babylon, as is well known, 
made extensive use of mineral pitch and asphalt as a cement for 
their various structures, after the fashion above referred to in 
the latter city. Bitumen was also used to some extent as fuel. 
The fountains of pitch from which the supplies of Babylon were 
largely derived are still shown in the valley of a small tributary 
of the Euphrates. These fountains were described by Herod¬ 
otus, the Father of History, and his mention of this notable 
source of bitumen constitutes one of the earliest definite and 
authentic references to this line of substances. 

Egypt made considerable use of asphalt in building its perma¬ 
nent structures, and also in the construction of cisterns for water 
and silos for grain, and in embalming the bodies of the dead. 
Its supplies are said to have been mainly derived from the deep 
trough of the Dead Sea, in which the vale of Siddim was also 
probably located. The ancient name of this body of water was 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


7 


Lake Asphaltites, and from it the word “asphalt” is derived. 
The bitumen rises in immense, island-like masses in the sea, nota¬ 
bly after earthquake shocks. This fact was noted by Strabo, and 
has been verified in modern times. The production of the Dead 
Sea valley is now insignificant, but there is no reason to doubt 
that in early times there was a considerable amount exported. 
At various points along the shores of the Mediterranean and on 
several islands of the sea, other sources of bitumen were found 
and utilized in earlv times. Several observant travelers and 
geographers of the early Roman period make mention of them 
in records which are still extant. 

In China, oil and gas were discovered and utilized to some 
extent at a very early day, as is attested by records of high 
antiquity. They were found in connection with the salt pro¬ 
duction of the interior of the Empire. 

The more stable forms of bitumen are not the only ones, how- 
ever, that were turned to economic account in the ancient world. 
Petroleum itself was even more highly valued by some nations, 
because it was so available as a source of light and heat. The 
Persians, for example, employed it for this purpose on a con¬ 
siderable scale, and in some parts of the Mediterranean region, 
at the beginning of the Christian era, it was thus used, as Pliny 
states. Its use has been continued in this district even to our 
own time, from the first known sources. 

Prom an unknown, but apparently ancient date, Burmali has 
also made use of petroleum as a source of light on a large scale. 
The supply of petroleum was derived from the valley of the 
Irawaddv, where the production is still maintained. The south¬ 
ern end of the Caspian Sea has also been, from a remote an¬ 
tiquity, an extraordinary source of oil and gas. A religious 
use was long ago found for these escaping products, temples 
being constructed over some of the natural gas vents, and per 
petual fires being thus maintained here. These lire temples 
became the goals of innumerable pilgrimages from distant re¬ 
gions, and especially from India. The economic application 
of these extraordinary supplies has been effected first in our 
•own time, and one of the great oil fields of the world, if not 
the greatest, has been developed here. 

The New World has been occupied by civilized man for a 


8 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


comparatively short period, and consequently no very ancient 
records as to the discovery or use of any of the members of 
the bituminous series within its limits are to be looked for.. 
The petroleum of Western Pennsylvania appears to have at¬ 
tracted the attention of the first Europeans who traversed the 
district in which it occurs. Mention of the oil springs of the* 
Allegheny valley goes back as far as 1629, and during the sub¬ 
sequent century there were many observations put on record 
in various connections as to the occurrence of petroleum in the 
eastern portion of the United States. When first discovered, 
it was highly prized as a medicinal agent by the Indians, and 
its use was soon communicated by them to their white neigh¬ 
bors. The oil springs of Western New York and Pennsyl¬ 
vania were in some cases apparently regarded with religious 
reverence by the native tribes, and from one or other of tire- 
causes above-named, when parting with their lands, they retained 
reservations in several instances, including the localities of these- 
springs. 

Mineral tar and asphalt were also noted and worked to some 
extent in the West India Islands at a similarly early period. 
One of the best known of these products is Barbadoes Tar. 
From the shores and islands of the Gulf of Mexico, our largest 
supplies of asphalt are still derived. 

The South American mainland seems to be deficient in the 
surface indications of oil and gas. If any records of the occur¬ 
rence of these substances have been made, they have at least 
failed to attract general attention. 

From this brief review, it is seen that the several members of 
the bituminous series are not only very widely distributed iu 
nature, but further, that they have long been known to man, 
and have been variously used and highly valued for several 
thousands of years. 


AND ASPHALT HOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


9 * 


CHAPTER II. 


THE MODERN HISTORY OF PETROLEUM AND ITS 

DERIVATIVES. 


The modern history of petroleum may be taken to begin with 
the present century. During this time, and especially during 
the latter half of it, all the great developments and applications 
of oil and gas have been brought about. In this development 
and utilization, the United States has taken the leading part. 
When the history of oil and gas in this country has been duly 
recorded, very little of importance will remain to be told con¬ 
cerning their modes of occurrence or the means employed in 
bringing them from their subterranean recesses to the light of 
day and in rendering them tributary to the service of men. The 
only great addition has been made within the last dozen years, 
in the development of the Baku field at the southern end of the 
Caspian Sea, to which reference has already been made. All 
this development, however, has followed directly from, and has 
been wholly based upon, American experience. No new lines of 
observation have been brought to light by this great production. 

The modern history of petroleum begins with the present cen¬ 
tury. The scene of the history is laid in the upper portion of 
the Ohio Valley. As had happened in China two thousand 
years before, the discovery of petroleum in large quantity was 
here connected with the search for an adequate supply of com¬ 
mon salt. The earlier settlers of the Ohio Valley and its tribu- 
taries were well assured in almost all respects as to the character 
of their new home. The soil was exceedingly fertile; the cli- 
mate was in all respects favorable ; against the Indian tribes that 
they were obliged to displace, they felt abundantly able to 
maintain themselves. They had established for themselves most 
of the simpler manufactories essential to an agricultural com¬ 
munity, but there were two sources of anxietv that disturbed 
the minds of these hardy pioneers. The more thoughtful among 




10 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


them entertained grave fears that iron and salt could never be 
furnished in large enough amount and at low enough price to 
meet the wants of a large community. The fear in regard to 
iron was happily dispelled in the earliest years of the century 
by the establishment of blast furnaces among the Laurel Mount¬ 
ains of Pennsylvania, on the western side of the great divide. 
But all the salt used in the valley was either brought on the 
backs of pack horses by steep and narrow bridle paths, across 
the Allegheny Ridge, or else by fiat-boats from the Gulf of 
Mexico, whose toilsome ascent of the river was never accom¬ 
plished in less than four months, and which often required six 
months. The mouth of the river, it will be remembered, was at 
this time in the possession of a foreign power. From 1792 to 
1800, the price of salt in the Ohio Valley ranged between eight 
and sixteen cents per pound. 

As a consequence, all the natural sources of supply in the 
new territory were looked upon with extreme interest, and 
■were watched with jealous care. Even the Congress of the 
United States did not deem the brine springs of the Ohio Val¬ 
ley unworthy of its notice, and when, in 1802, a part of the 
Northwest Territory was erected into the State of Ohio, tracts 
embracing the principal brine springs then known in this region 
were reserved to the State as being too valuable to become pri¬ 
vate property, and thus to lay the foundations of excessive for¬ 
tunes, and what might become oppressive monopolies. The salt 
reserves of Ohio, and of the adjacent States as well, all proved 
worthless. The brine was weak and impure, and only the 
cheapness of fuel and labor and the high price of salt allowed 
the manufacture to go on from such sources, for even a few 

years. 

•/ 

Up to 1806 the rock had never been penetrated to secure a 
supply of brine in the United States. In other countries rock 
drilling for salt water had been practiced for long periods. I 11 
China, as already noted, deep wells were drilled for brine two 
thousand years ago ; but here, as well as in many other cases, 
we have been unable to profit by the experience of the world, 
and have been obliged to work out our own methods and estab¬ 
lish our own systems. 

The American system of rock drilling, which is incomparably 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


11 


the best that has ever been invented, was originated in the 
Kanawha Valley, and in connection with the search for an ad¬ 
equate supply of salt. In the year above named, viz: 1806, 
two brothers, David and Joseph Ruffner, of Charleston, West 
Virginia, set to work to learn more of the source of the brine 
that was found in their neighborhood, and, if possible, to ob¬ 
tain a more abundant and stronger supply. In other words, 
they determined to drill into the rocks for salt water. They 
were obliged to invent their own tools, and to solve, without 
previous experience, all the problems involved. For two years 
they persevered in their search, overcoming, one by one, diffi¬ 
culties which, trifling as they now seem, would have discour¬ 
aged faint-hearted men, until, on the fifteenth day of January, 
1808, at a depth of forty feet in the sandstone rock, they were 
rewarded by an abundant flow of stronger brine. They had 
succeeded in their search, and doubtless made more account of 
the discovery of a better basis for salt manufacture than they 
did of the means that they had employed in finding it; but in 
reality the latter was the important feature of this history. 
The rock drill, where the Ruffner brothers left it, was in ap¬ 
pearance an insignificant apparatus. It was simply an iron bar 
shod with steel, and swung by a rope from a spring pole; but 
it was now an actual fact, and ready to be acted upon by the 
process of evolution. The stages of its development followed 
rapidly. Hand power was soon replaced by horse power, which, 
in its turn, gave way to steam power. The efficiency of the 
outfit was greatly reinforced by various ingenious additions 
that were made by the drillers of the Kanawha Valley. It is 
here that the “conductor,’' the “casing,” the “jars” and the 
“ seed-bag” were all originated. 

Dr. S. P. Hildreth, the pioneer geologist of the upper Ohio 
Valley, gave a description of the mode of drilling salt wells, in 
the American Journal of Science, in 1833, which is copied here, 
for the sake of bringing vividly before the reader the lines of 
progress in this remarkable art: 

“Process Pursued in Sinking a Salt Well. 

c ‘ The operator having fixed on a spot suitable for the purpose, 
always near some water-course, and where the adjacent hills are 


12 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


nigh, proceeds to excavate the earth down to the rock, and then' 
the rock itself to the deptli of twenty or thirty feet, and from 
four to six feet in diameter. In this cavity, called ‘the head,' 
is usually placed a hollow sycamore trunk, called ‘ a gum,’ which 
is imbedded lirmly in the rock, in such a way as to exclude the 
springs of fresh water; others make use of planks to form the 
head. When this part of the work is accomplished, the process 
of boring, or drilling, commences. This was formerly done by 
hand, with the assistance of a spring pole, and was a tedious 
and laborious operation. It is now performed by a horse or 
horses, placed on an inclined tread wheel, and machinery very 
simply, but ingeniously, arranged, so as to act, by means of a 
lever, on the poles attached to the auger, raising it from two to 
three feet, at each rise of the lever, and letting it drop again 
very regularly. A grass rope, with which the poles are sus¬ 
pended to a high frame, by its spiral convolutions, at each rise 
and fall gives them a slight rotary motion, so necessary to the 
progress of the work. Two men are employed in this business, 
who stand regular tours, of six hours each, night and day. 
When so much of the rock is chiseled up and comminuted so 
finely as to make with the water, which always fills the hole, a 
soft, muddy mass, and impedes the motion of the auger, the 
poles are withdrawn and a tube made of copper, live or six feet 
in length and three inches in diameter, called ‘the pump,’ is 
screwed to the pole and let down. A valve, at the lower end, 
prevents the escape of the contents, which are discharged 
through a hole made for that purpose, near the top. 

“A cord or rope is sometimes made use of in this process, in. 
place of the poles. The poles are made of tough, white ash: 
wood, twenty-five feet in length and two inches in diameter. 
They are attached to each other by strong iron sockets and 
screws, so as that a screw at the lower end enters into a socket 
at the upper end of each pole. By the addition of fresh poles, 
as the well descends, they are lengthened to any desirable depth. 

“The auger is pointed with the best cast steel, and is from 
twelve to fourteen inches in length, and from three to four inches 
wide, as the operator may think best, it being very useful to 
have the well of a greater diameter at the top, as it necessarily 
and unavoidably grows narrower as it descends, and would not 


AND ASPHALT BOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


13 


:afford sufficient water, unless an allowance of this kind were 
made. 

“The operation gradually cuts away the sides of the auger, 
and as it is repaired or a new one applied, unless this adaptation 
is carefully attended to, it becomes fast in the bottom of the 
well, and is with great difficulty removed. The progress made, 
each day, varies, with the density of the rock, from one inch to 
five or six feet, but is necessarily slower as the well deepens ; for 
much time is necessarily consumed in taking up and letting 
down the poles, for the purpose of pumping or clearing out the 
detritus, which is composed of sand or mud, according to the 
nature of the rock. It is often necessary to line the upper por¬ 
tion of the well, for one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet, 
with a copper tube, to prevent the process of caving, occasioned 
by the disintegration of the soapstone or argillite, which princi¬ 
pally composes the upper strata to this depth. It is also some¬ 
times needed to keep out the springs of fresh water, which, 
mingling with the salt, would occasion additional labor in the 
evaporation . 11 

For forty years the art was strictly confined to the search for 
which it was designed, viz: for brine to be used in salt manu¬ 
facture. A class of men grew up whose sole business it was to 
drill salt wells, and a great body of practical experience in this 
art was gradually accumulated. 

While sinking these salt wells the drillers were often annoyed 
by the presence in excessive quantity of two substances which 
were unfailingly found in the rocks that they penetrated, viz: 
petroleum and natural gas. The gas in particular would some¬ 
times issue from the wells with uncontrollable violence, and, 
becoming ignited by accidental means, would destroy the ma¬ 
chinery and otherwise interfere with the purpose of the wells. 
Some wells were found incorrigible in this respect, and were on 
this account abandoned. Wdiere the gas was found in moderate 
amount, it came to be used at a comparatively early day for the 
evaporation of the brine, and probably also on a small scale for 
illumination. Use was also found for a small quantity of the 
petroleum that escaped from these wells. Rock oil had indeed 
been highly valued by the Indian inhabitants of the regions west 
of the Appalachians before they were occupied at all by the white 


14 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

race, as has been stated on a previous page. The iirst white 
hunters and pioneers that entered these regions learned prob¬ 
ably from the Indians to place the same estimate on these nat¬ 
ural fountains of oil. They came to consider the oil, in fact, a 
sovereign remedy for nearly all the diseases to which they 
were especially liable, and particularly for rheumatism, burns, 
sprains, and even for coughs and colds. It was known as 
Seneca Oil, from the fact that it was first found near Seneca 
Lake, New York. For a long while the demand was greater 
than the supply, so that a small bottle of oil would bring forty 
or fifty cents ; but the drilling of the new salt wells made it 
much more abundant. In the neighborhoods where the wells 
were drilled it began to be used as a source of artificial light, 
being burned in the crude state in the oil lamps of the period. 
A little improvement was presently made by filtering the oil 
through charcoal. Its value as a lubricant was also early recog¬ 
nized ; but the main use, after all, was as a medicinal agent. 
Through all these applications the oil became an article of com¬ 
merce on a small scale. 

When, however, as sometimes happened, a large quantity of 
oil was struck in drilling a well, no efforts were made to arrest 
the flow, but it was left to find its way into the streams upon 
which the wells were located, discoloring them often for miles 
with its iridescent hues. The great Kanawha river acquired, on 
this account, from the boatmen of the Ohio Valley, the soubri¬ 
quet of “ Old Greasy.” One of the most remarkable instances 
of this sort occurred in Southern Kentucky. A well that was 
drilled in 1829 at Burkeville gave vent to an enormous flow of 
oil. The well was estimated by those whom we are obliged to 
accept as authority to have produced 50,000 barrels, all of which 
flowed out into the Cumberland river, in the valley of which it 
was drilled. The surface of the river was covered with oil for 
many miles, and while in this condition the oil was ignited, and 
furnished the strange spectacle of a river on fire. Only a few 
barrels of the oil were saved for commercial purposes. All that 
was used was put up in small bottles, and sold under the name 
of American Oil as a medicinal agent. 

These descriptions show the general line of facts pertaining 
to petroleum up to the year 1850. For more than ten years 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


15 


thereafter there was no considerable progress in the demand 
for rock oil, but lines of investigation were being entered upon 
about this time in different parts of the world that resulted 
in an immense advance in the development of the several pro¬ 
ducts of the bituminous series, and in contributions of ines¬ 
timable value to the well-being of the whole civilized world. 
Some of the steps of this advance were as follows: 

The Paraffine Industry. 

The growing wealth of the world was leading to the demand 
for new and better sources of artificial light than were generally 
available. Through the enterprise and energy of New England 
sailors, whale oil and sperm oil had been widely distributed 
through the eastern United States and through western Europe 
as an illuminating agent, for a considerable term of years, but 
the sharpness of the demand had led to the pushing of the 
whale fishery to the point of a practical exhaustion of the sup¬ 
ply. The consequent diminution in quantity naturally led to a 
considerable increase in price, and the increase in price encour¬ 
aged the search for some new source of light. 

In 1830, a colorless, wax-like body, burning freely and with¬ 
out odor, and giving rise to an oil of peculiar character, was 
discovered by a distinguished German chemist in the course of 
a series of investigations on the products of wood-tar. He 
named this wax-like substance “ paraffine,” and as such, it soon 
became known to the scientific world, but no one suspected that 
it would ever be found to be widely distributed or to possess 
economic value. It remained for- a score of years as little more 
than a chemical curiosity. About the year 1850, however, this 
growing need of a cheaper source of artificial light, to which I 
have already referred, led Mr. James Young, and others as¬ 
sociated with him, after considerable experimenting and con¬ 
siderable increase in knowledge of the facts concerned, to begin 
the manufacture of paraffine, together with the illuminating oil 
that is associated with it from the outflow of a weak petroleum 
spring in Derbyshire, England. 

The process was successful, but the amount of crude oil sup¬ 
plied by the spring proved altogether inadequate to the demand,, 


10 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

and in the search for other sources of supply, a rich variety of 
eannel coal, known in Scotland as the “Boghead mineral,” or 
sometimes as “Torbane mineral,” was presently found that gave 
excellent results. The process was soon found capable of exten¬ 
sion to all cannel coals, and also to bituminous shales as well, 
and an extensive and exceedingly promising industry was 
speedily developed in Great Britain, and shortly afterwards 
in the United States. Paraffine oil-works were established at 
many points in this country, and among others at Cloverport, 
Kentucky, the manufacture being based in the last-named in¬ 
stance on the neighborhood of the famous Breckinridge can¬ 
nel coal. On the Atlantic border, the Scotch minerals were 
imported in a large way for distillation. The American works 
were all operated under English patents. The latter applied 
only to the production of paraffine from cannel coal and bitu¬ 
minous shale, although, as already noted, the process was begun 
-on crude oil. 

During these same years investigation was going on in several 
American laboratories as to the possibility of obtaining desirable 
illuminating oil from the products of the famous oil springs of 
Western Pennsylvania, and the entire practicability of the oper¬ 
ation was thoroughly demonstrated in both a practical and 
scientific way. The only trouble was found in the short supply 
of crude oil. Some examinations of the oil from the Pennsvl- 
vania held that were made at that time by Prof. Benjamin Silli > 
man, Jr., of New Haven, Connecticut, were especially influential 
in leading to the next step, the importance of which can scarcely 
be overstated. That step was to drill a well, the sole object of 
which was to obtain as large a supply of petroleum as possible. 
Petroleum had, up to this time, always been a by-product of the 
oil wells of the Ohio Valley. 

The well was located in the valley of Oil Creek, Venango 
county, Pennsylvania, near the natural oil springs that had been 
famous for more than a century. Mr. E. L. Drake, known as 
Col. Drake, was in charge of the work. He struck oil at a depth 
of 70 feet, and thus opened a new chapter in the history of the 
stored power of the world. One of the fiercest speculative ex¬ 
citements that has ever swept through the country followed this 
discovery. It can scarcely be said to have subsided yet. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


17 


In drilling this well and those that followed in swift succes¬ 
sion, there was no one to compete with the salt well driller of 
the Ohio Valley. He had learned an art that was henceforth to 
become one of the most important that men have yet invented 
for gaining possession of the mineral wealth with which the 
crust of the earth is stored. The driller’s art has been greatly 
modified, it is true, by the important experience which was 
entered on at this time; but the change has been in the way of 
improvement, and not in the way of origination. The drill has 
grown, in point of fact, from a bar that a child could lift, to a 
massive shaft fifty feet long and weighing two thousand pounds, 
which can hew its way down through solid rock at the rate of 
an inch a minute, or 150 feet in a day; but the elements of its 
present efficiency were all present and recognized in the earlier 
time. 

In the thirty years that have passed since the drilling of the 
first oil well in Western Pennsylvania, petroleum has become 
a factor of great importance in the service and in the commerce 
of the civilized world. 

Within this period, according to current statistics, fifty-three 
thousand wells have been drilled in the two States of Pennsyl¬ 
vania and New York alone, at an estimated cost of two linn - 
dred million dollars. These wells have produced more than 
three hundred million barrels of petroleum, which has been 
sold at the wells for five hundred million dollars, giving a net 
profit to producers of three hundred million dollars. 

To the other oil fields of the country at large, a production 
of about fifty million barrels must be credited, making the 
total yield to 1890, about three hundred and fifty-eight million 
barrels. In the Washington county (Pennsylvania) field, the 
last to be developed in this State, more than three million dol¬ 
lars have been already expended in drilling oil wells, and the 
business has still proved largely remunerative. The annual 
production of petroleum in the United States for the last ten 
years has ranged between twenty and thirty million barrels. 
The illuminating and lubricating oils, the naphtha and the 
paraffine derived from the crude oil, make an aggregate ol 
many times its value. The amount of oil exported to date 
is placed at about six hundred and twenty-five billion gallons. 

GEOL. STIR.—? 


18 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAs 


These figures, of course, pass beyond all clear comprehen¬ 
sion, but they serve to indicate to a greater or less extent the 
magnitude of the interest which we are now considering. For 
a portion of the time in which oil has been a factor in the* 
markets of the country, the price has been subjected to rapid 
and considerable fluctuations in value, in consequence of which 
large fortunes have been made and lost in dealing in it in brief 
spaces of time. During the last thirty years the average an¬ 
nual price of petroleum has fluctuated between forty-nine cents 
and twenty dollars per barrel. The latter figure stands, how¬ 
ever, for a small production at the very beginning of the recent 
history, namely, 1859. For portions of the year 1861 the price 
fell to ten cents per barrel. The next highest annual figure 
is nine dollars and eighty-seven and one-half cents in 1864. 
The facts pertaining to these annual values are shown in the 
appended table : 


Y EAR. 


Average yearly price. 


Total annual \alue ot pro 
cluction in greenbacks. 


1859 . . 

1860 

1861 . . 
1862 

1863 . . 

1864 . . 

1865 . . 

1866 . . 

1867 

1868 „ 

1869 . . 

1870 . . 

1871 . . 

1872 , . 

1873 . . 

1874 . . 

1875 . . 

1876 . . 

1877 . . 

1878 . . 

1879 . . 

1880 . . 


Total 


$20 00 ! 
9 60 
49 

1 05 
3 15 

9 871 ! 
6 59“ | 
3 74 

2 41 

3 621 
5 63“ 

3 89f i 

4 34 
3 64 
1 83 
1 17 

1 35 

2 561 
2 42 

1 19 
851 
941 


$40,000 00 
4,800,000 00 
1,035,668 41 
3,209.524 50 
8,225,623 35 
20,896.576 37 
16.459.843 00 
13,455,398 00 
8,066.993 00 
13,217.174 12 
23,730,450 00 
20.503.753 64 
22,591,179 94 
21,440.502 72 
18,100.464 12 
12.647,526 84 
12,133,133 10 
22,982.821 62 
31,788,323 82 
18,044,519 78 
16,953.151 38 
24,600,637 84 


$324,920,265 55 


It is necessary to give these values in greenbacks rather than 
in gold, for the reason that an important part of the develop¬ 
ment was going forward at a time when the national currency 
was largely inflated. 









































































































g§§l§§lf§§5i^ 

; TSfii t th.ptni 1 




i^|g|||| 


'Cgt-ui 


JTontieello, 


: Marlon 


L MAP 


If art ford j Cy 


OHIO AND INDIANA 


Newberry’s Map of Ohio, 


Collett'S Map of Indiana. 

By EDWARD ORTON- 


.yVAnderion City: 


HUDSON RjVER GROUP 


NIAGARA LIME8TONEj 
INCLUDING CLINTON AND MEDINA 


LOWER HELDERBERG LIMESTONE ^ 
SHALES) W// 


DEVONIAN (.LIMESTONE 


GAS FIELDS 


GAS WELLS 


OIL FIELDS 


OIL WELLS 


1 







































































































AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


19 


The drilling and care of these oil wells and the storage and 
transportation of their products have given rise to what may 
be called a new branch of mechanical engineering, in the de¬ 
velopment of which a large amount of inventive genius has 
been expended. Years of experience are requisite to gain a 
full knowledge of the drillers’ art, and those who obtain such 
knowledge command the consideration and pay of other me¬ 
chanical experts. The movement of petroleum from the oil 
fields to the sea-board, or to the centers where it is relined 
or otherwise used, in lines of pipe buried in the ground and 
hundreds of miles in length, constitutes an original addition 
to our systems of transportation. The cost of transportation 
is reduced by this system to the lowest terms. 

Equal skill has been obtained among us in the manufacture 
of illuminants from petroleum, American oil is unquestion¬ 
ably the best source of artificial light for town and country 
alike that the markets of the world afford. Its superiority is 
fully recognized throughout Western Europe, where it comes 
into competition with illuminating oils from other fields. 

Vast wealth has been already derived from the production, 
and especially from the storing, transportation and refining 
of petroleum. Much of this wealth has been distributed 
among a large number of persons associated in one way or 
another with this new interest, and much of it again has been 
massed in the hands of individuals. The oil well derrick, the 
pipe-line, and the refinery, in fact, stand by the side of the 
railway locomotive and the great lodes of the mining districts, 
as agents for the gathering of the colossal fortunes which con¬ 
stitute so striking a feature of our day. It is in connects ' 
with industries growing out of petroleum that the first suc¬ 
cessful attempt has been made to control the entire business 
of the country in a single line by a single company, organized 
for and directed to this end. The so-called Standard Oil Com¬ 
pany, although not a corporation in a legal sense, practically 
controls, with enormous advantage to the individuals that com¬ 
pose it, the oil refining of the country, and incidentally the 
production and transportation of oil throughout the country 
at large. As has been already stated, the illuminating oil and 
associated products furnished by this company are the best 


20 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

of tlieir kind in the world, and there is no general ground of 
complaint as to the prices at which they are sold; bur there 
is a wide-sjjread feeling of distrust of and hostility to the 
company, growing out of the methods it has used in getting 
rid of competition in the business which it has organized. Its 
importance in the practical development of our oil fields can 
not well be over-estimated. It provides a vast and admirable 
system of storage and transportation of oil as it is produced, 
and it furnishes a cash market for the production of every 
well. Thus far, no important oil field has been developed in¬ 
dependent of the agency and practical control of this great 
organization. 

The search for and exploitation of petroleum have many of 
the characteristics of the mining of the precious metals. There 
is the same uncertainty of result, and the same possibility of 
enormous and disproportionate rewards that invest the search 
for gold and silver with such a charm for multitudes of men. 
As a consequence, speculative excitement is sure to rise high in 
all districts in which the successful development of oil territory 
is going forward. Large investments are made, money is freely 
spent, villages and towns grow apace, but in a very short time 
the high-water mark may be reached, and the ebb of the tide in 
many instances proves equally as rapid as was its advance. Tn 
all these respects, petroleum production follows the experience 
of the mining and development of the precious metals, as 
already noted. Some towns that have been begun under the 
excitement attending the discovery of a new oil field, become 
the centers of permanent interest and industries in this connec¬ 
tion : those towns, namely, that are selected as the location of 
refineries and pipe-line centers. 

The great oil production of the country has been confined to a 
few hundred square miles of territory located in Pennsylvania, 
New York, West Virginia and Ohio. The chief areas are 
shown in the accompanying sketch maps, Nos. 1 and 2. Addi¬ 
tions to the territory on a small scale are made from other 
States. The productive districts, as is seen on the maps, are 
found in isolated areas, varying from one or two square miles to 
a few score of square miles in size. The separate pools are also 
found to be ranged in north-east lines, so far as the principal 







,W3t»HU*Ht' A .A .0 t JflAO HHOl 

























































































































AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


21 


field is concerned, and these I’^es beyond question stand for the 
main structural features of the territory to which they belong. 
This point will be further discussed and explained on subse¬ 
quent pages of this report. 

From the fact that the petroleum of the country has been pro¬ 
duced from so small a portion of its area, it must not be inferred 
that it has not been iooked for elsewhere. The exploration has 
been widespread, and vast sums of money have been spent in 
the search through all the States which seem to agree in geolog¬ 
ical history and structure with the States to which the produc¬ 
tive districts belong. 

The new oil held of northern Ohio has made a very important, 
and, at the same time, an entirely unexpected addition to our 
resources in this respect; but the promise which it seemed at 
first to extend to a large part of the country, in the way of 
furnishing new oil fields of great extent, has been already 
broken. Widespread drilling has been carried forward, aud 
money has been most freely expended in the search for oil 
through a few of the nearest States, without any addition of 
real significance having thus far been made to the new oil ter¬ 
ritory that was outlined in Ohio in 1885. It is now certain that 
the new field, like the older ones, is included within narrow 
boundaries. It does not exceed 200 square miles in area, so far 
as present knowledge goes. 

Has the experience of the last thirty years warranted the ex¬ 
pectation and belief that the stocks of petroleum in nature are 
adequate to maintain for long periods, as of centuries, the large 
and lavish use which our generation has been the first to enjoy '( 
In other words, can we count upon petroleum as making a 
permanent addition to our sources of power ? The answer de¬ 
rived from experience is explicit. There is no such warrant. 
The productive areas are of small size and far between, and the 
stocks are all seen to be sharply limited in amount. This sub¬ 
ject will be discussed at greater length in a subsequent chapter. 

Natural Gas, Its Discovery and Uses. 

The discovery and utilization of petroleum have thus far been 
spoken of. It remains to describe briefly the steps by which 
natural gas, a constant accompaniment of petroleum, and a 


92 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAR 


necessary derivative from it, lias become invested during the 
last few years with even greater interest, or, to say the least, 
with a more widespread interest than oil has ever possessed. A 
paper, prepared upon this subject by Joseph D. Weeks, Esq., 
for a report on the Mineral Resources of the United States for 
the year 1885, has been freely used in the following statements. 

It will be seen in this review that the recognition of the im¬ 
portance of natural gas as a source of light and heat has been 
attained by slow stages, and that the useful applications of it, 
which are here to be recorded, are separated from each other by 
unaccountably long intervals, especially when the readiness of 
our people to accept any new natural advantage or any new ap¬ 
plication of the mechanical powers, is taken into account. It is 
doubtless true that men were long deterred from attempting to 
use natural gas because of their lack of confidence in its per¬ 
sistence. It required many years of observation to satisfy them 
that the enormous power which it evidently contained was 
stored in quantities large enough to make the exploitation of it 
a successful investment for capital. 

First Uses of Natural Gas. 

The first conspicuous example of the use of natural gas for 
economical purposes in this country is found in the experience 
of the village of Fredonia, Chautauqua county, New York. 
The village is traversed by the valley of Canadaway creek, 
which has been worn out of the great system of shales that 
make almost the entire southern boundary of Lake Erie. These 
shales embrace beds that belong to the Hamilton, Portage and 
Chemung divisions of the geological scale, and possibly in part 
to a higher division also. They consist of interstrati lied beds of 
blue and black shales which occur in frequent alternations. The 
whole series is known in Ohio and Kentucky as the Ohio shale. 
Along the entire outcrop of this formation, for many hundreds 
of miles, weak flows of gas and oil abound. In the valley al¬ 
ready referred to in Fredonia, inflammable gas was found escap¬ 
ing from the crevices in the rock from the first occupation of 
the country. Such escapes are common through all this region. 
In 1821, a well was bored one and one-half inches in diameter, 
and 27 feet deep, into these gas-bearing shales, and gas enough 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


23 


To supply twenty or thirty small burners was obtained. The 
gas was carried from the well in wooden pipes to the streets and 
buildings near by, and it was burned from small openings made 
in iron pipes for this purpose. In the course of a few years a 
small gasometer was added, and the supply was considerably 
improved thereby. Other wells were added from time to time 
of the same general character as the first. More recently deep 
wells have been drilled in the search for a supply that should 
be adequate to the demands of the village for heat and power as 
well as for street lighting. But all these attempts have failed. 
The shales furnish a small amount of gas with great persistency, 
but they can not be made to support wells of either large volume 
or high pressure by any device that has been applied to them 
up to this date. The original supply is still maintained, a dozen 
or more wells yielding about 16,500 feet per day, making an an 
nual production of about six million feet. The supply is still 
confined to the original purpose for which it was introduced, 
namely, that of lighting the town. 

A few years later, gas obtained from the same formation and 
under similar conditions was used for illumination in the Gov¬ 
ernment light-house at Barcelona, the lake port of Westfield. 
New York. The harbor, and, consequently, the light-house 
were abandoned by the Government in 1857, but the flow of gas 
from the same wells has been maintained and used by the people 
of the neighborhood from that day to this. 

Gas was turned to a small account for domestic fuel in Find¬ 
lay, Ohio, at an early day. In fact, Findlay antedated all other 
experience in this practical use of gas. In 1838 Mr. Daniel Fos¬ 
ter found gas so abundant in the wells and cisterns which he dug 
in his village lot in the unavailing search for a supply of pota¬ 
ble water, that he determined at length to make account of tin 4 
gas for fuel. He inverted an iron salt-kettle in one of his 
wells, to be used as a gasometer, and conveyed gas from it 
by a wooden pipe to his house a few feet away, burning the 
gas as it issued in a small and steady flame from a perforated 
gun-barrel, which he had built into a fire-place. This, as al¬ 
ready remarked, marks the earliest use of gas as domestic fuel. 

It is believed that gas was first brought into use in salt- 
making in this country in the Kanawha Valley of West Vir- 


24 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

ginia, by William Tompkins, who drilled a well in 1841 for 
brine to be used in this interest. The well furnished a large 
amount of gas along with the brine, and Mr. Tompkins turned 
it to successful use as fuel for the salt block. It will be re¬ 
membered that in the drilling of salt wells, which was first 
successfully begun in this country in 1808, gas was often found 
in large quantities, and often made itself obnoxious to the 
driller on account of the interruption and danger that it 
brought to his operations. But for more than thirty years 
he had carefully conducted away from the furnace this best 
of fuel, which nature had presented to him without money 
and without price. 

After the new chapter in the history of petroleum was begun 
in 1859, the experience with gas became necessarily much more 
important than any that had been known before. More or less 
gas was found in all the important oil wells, and esjjecially in 
the most valuable section of oil wells, namely, the fiowing 
wells, or those that delivered the oil without the use of a 
pump. It was at once recognized that the escaping gas fur¬ 
nished a useful source of power in drilling and in pumping 
the oil wells, and it was accordingly introduced on a large 
scale into the boilers of the engines by which the power was 
supplied. At first the use of it was confined to the well where 
the drilling was going forward; but the gas was soon piped 
away for similar purposes to greater or less distances through¬ 
out the field where it was needed. All of its advantages as 
fuel were made fully apparent here, and yet, strange to say, 
the idea of utilizing it beyond the simple demands of the oil 
field proper seemed never to have found entrance into the 
mind of any one. Great gas wells were still abandoned as 
of old time, and were allowed to blow themselves out without 
restraint into the air. It was the main object of the driller 
to keep clear of the gas belts of the territory within which 
he was operating. Little by little, however, the use of gas 
for light and fuel was extended from the derrick and the 
boiler to the dwelling near by. With such a history as has here 
been briefly sketched, it is obvious that no sharply-defined 
dates for the general application of natural gas as a fuel can 
be given. The development was in full progress, but its sep- 


AND ASPHALT RJCK IN WESTERN KENlUCKY. 


25 


arate steps can not be noted further than to say that between 
1860 and 1870 a wide application of it was made in the villages 
and towns along the south shore of Lake Erie. Erie and 
Northeast, Pennsylvania, Conneaut and Painesville, Ohio, 
furnish examples. 

Gas was introduced into an iron mill as its sole fuel at Leech- 
burg, Pennsylvania, for the first time, in April, 1873, by Messrs. 
Rogers and Burchfield. This very important application of gas 
to manufacturing begins at this point. 

Rochester, Pennsylvania, is credited with the first applica¬ 
tion of natural gas to glass-making, but the exact date of this 
use is not given. The Rochester Tumbler Works are believed 
to have used natural gas in their furnaces previous to 1883, 
but in this last-named year Mr. J. B. Ford, president of the 
Pittsburg Plate Glass Works, located at Creighton, Pennsylva¬ 
nia, introduced the new fuel into the extensive establishment 
of his company, and since that time it has become almost indis¬ 
pensable to the glass-makers’ art. 

The piping of gas on a large scale began with carrying the 
gas of the famous Harvey well, near Larden’s Mills, Butler 
county, Pennsylvania, to the iron mill of Spang, Chalfant & 
Co., at Etna, near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The line was six 
inches in diameter and seventeen miles long, and the gas was 
first used from it in the iron mill in October, 1874. 

In 1883 gas was first piped from the Murrysville field to Pitts¬ 
burg ; and this year may be taken as the date of its adoption 
as domestic and manufacturing fuel for large communities. 

In November, 1884, the great reservoir of Findlay gas was 
first struck at a depth of 1,100 feet below the surface. The 
utilization of the gas was going forward in the town through 
the year 1885, but the great development and distribution of 
it for this entire section of the State were left to 1886 and 1887. 

The new Indiana gas field, which derives its supply from the 
Trenton limestone or Findlay horizon was mainly developed 
in 1886 and 1887, It constitutes, on the whole, the largest and 
most productive connected gas territory that has ever been dis 
covered. 

This review has brought us down to the present date. It will 


26 .REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

be well to recapitulate the leading facts in this remarkable his¬ 
tory : 

In 1821, natural gas first used for illumination, Fredonia, 
New York. 

In 1838, natural gas first used for heating purposes, Findlay, 
Ohio. 

In 1841, natural gas first used for salt-making, West Vir¬ 
ginia. 

In 1860, natural gas first used for steam production, Oil 
Creek, Pennsylvania. 

In 1870, natural gas first used for domestic fuel, Shore of 
Lake Erie. ? 

In 1873, natural gas first used for iron working, Leechburg, 
Pennsylvania. 

In 1874, natural gas first piped for long distances, Etna, Penn- 
sylvania. 

i/ 

In 1883, natural gas first used in plate glass manufacture, 
Creighton, Pennsylvania. 

In 1883, natural gas first piped for general supply, Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania. 

In 1884, natural gas discovered in large quantity at Findlay, 
Ohio. 

In 1886, natural gas discovered in large quantity in Central 
Indiana. 

The amount of gas now in use in the States already named 
is very large. The best idea of it can perhaps be obtained by 
putting it in tons of coal displaced by its introduction. The 
most recent calculations are those of Joseph D. Weeks, Esq., 
for the Mineral Resources of the United States. He concludes 
that in 1888, 14,163,830 tons of coal, valued at $22,662,128, were 
thus displaced. 

The amount of capital invested in the distribution of gas 
from the various fields of the country it is impossible to de¬ 
termine with accuracy. It is certainly not less than fifty mil¬ 
lion dollars 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


27 


CHAPTER III. 


THE ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM AND GAS. 


The enormous economic value that petroleum and its deriva¬ 
tives have recently attained, as shown in the history that has 
now been briefly reviewed, has invested all the questions per¬ 
taining to this subject with great interest and importance. The 
introduction of natural gas in particular, during the last few 
years, into a considerable number of towns in Pennsylvania, 
New York, Ohio and Indiana, to be used in these towns fora 
supply of light, fuel and power, the wonderful addition that it 
makes when thus introduced to the convenience and the com¬ 
mercial advantages of these towns, and the consequent wide¬ 
spread desire on the part of all other enterprising towns, near 
and far, to secure for themselves like advantages, have given to 
the questions as to the origin and distribution of natural gas a 
larger popular interest than has ever before been brought to 
bear on any geological subject whatever. For the first time, 
representatives of all the classes and interests of the community 
can be found trying to get for themselves clear and correct ideas 
of the geology of their neighborhoods, so that they may act 
intelligently with reference to questions that come before them 
in one way or another in connection with the new fuel. 

As a consequence, there has been a very great extension of 
geological knowledge among the people at large throughout 
considerable sections of the country during the last five years. 
It would be hard to overstate the advance that geology has 
thus made, especially throughout the new oil and gas fields 
and the regions that are obtaining their supplies of fuel from 
these fields. Of course, knowledge obtained in this way will 
be crude and superficial. All popular knowledge of science 
necessarily has these characteristics ; but, after all, it is a 
great deal better than no knowledge. There is underlying it 
a wakeful interest and a desire to learn, which is the indis¬ 
pensable condition of all progress in these subjects. As a 




28 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


consequence, there are scattered throughout the new fields 
more or less persons, manufacturers, capitalists and others, 
who have made themselves, within the period named, good 
geologists, so far as the power of drawing sound conclusions 
from geological data is concerned. They have studied the 
facts and theories pertaining to the subject of natural gas 
with a real desire to learn the truth, whatever it may be, and 
to this study they have been impelled, in many cases, by a 
motive that is never lacking in efficiency, namely, the desire 
to win the prizes in the new mining ventures, or, in other 
words, to make profitable investments in the line of gas and 
oil. 

As much can not be said, however, of the speculators and 
boomers, so-called, who always swarm around the regions in 
which oil and gas are undergoing developments. These classes 
find no more promising fields for exercise of their peculiar 
powers than these. It is still true, with respect to them, that 
‘‘a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” The trouble with 
them is, that they do not care to know the actual facts of the 
case. They find exaggerations and distortions of the facts 
better fitted for their purposes than the facts themselves. The 
truth often stands in their way. These real estate geologists, 
as they may be termed, settle all the hard questions of the 
science in a very positive and peremptory way, and thus some¬ 
times give temporary currency to the crudest and most improb¬ 
able and contradictory geological doctrines. 

The question of the largest popular interest in connection 
with oil and gas relates to the duration of the supply; but it is 
leadilv seen that the question of duration is intimately con¬ 
nected with the origin of these substances, and, therefore, this 
last topic commands a large share of interest. Of what are oil 
and gas oiiginally made ( How were they formed ? \Vhen were 
they formed ? Are they in process of formation now ? These 
are the questions that are heard on every side. 

Y\hat are the geological answers? It can be said in reply, 
that within the last fifty years, and particularly within the last 
twenty-five years, there has been a great deal written upon the 
general subjects that these questions cover, namely, the modes 
of origin of oil and gas, and it can further be said that a great 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


29 


deal has been learned in regard to these subjects, but still it is 
true that no one answer as to their origin commands universal 
acceptance. A distinguished German geologist, Prof. C. F. 
Zincken, of Leipzig, writing recently, goes so far as to say that 
in regard to the origin of petroleum, one might well adopt the 
inscription that was placed over a meteorites that fell in Europe 
many centuries ago : “Multi multa , omnes aliquid , nemo satis” 
The words can be translated thus: “ Many men say many 
things. Everybody says something. Nobody gives a satis¬ 
factory account/’ When we come to analyze the various an¬ 
swers, however, as to the origin of petroleum, the case is not 
as discouraging as this statement would lead us to conclude. 
There is one point of vital consequence in the discussion, and in 
regard to this, it may be said that there is now substantial 
agreement among all geologists who have gained a right to 
speak upon the question. Even the author last quoted remarks 
in the same connection: ‘‘Not a doubt any longer prevails as 
to the derivation of petroleum from organic matter.” 

In this chapter, a brief account will be given of the various 
theories or classes of theories that have been put forward to 
account for the origin of the bitumens with which the earth is 
so abundantly stored. One or two points need to be made clear 
before the discussion proper is begun. 

1. In the first place, all forms of bitumen must be considered 
together. They constitute a definite and well-graded series 
throughout. There is no question, for example, as to mineral 
tar being derived from petroleum. Mineral tar is partially 
oxidized petroleum, and it is obvious, therefore, that this ele¬ 
ment needs no separate theory as to its origin. 

In like manner, no line can be drawn between mineral tar and 
asphalt. Asphalt is simply petroleum still further oxidized, 
and we are, therefore, absolved from the necessity of providing 
a theory for the origin of asphalt in addition to the origin of 

petroleum. 

When petroleum, so called, is considered, a great many vari¬ 
eties of crude oil are found to be included under the term, de¬ 
pending partly upon the chances for oxidation that the products 
have had. Natural oils range m gravity from below 20 degrees 
to above 50 degrees, Beaume. the former so thick that they can 


30 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


scarcely be poured, the latter light enough to be burned in com¬ 
mon lamps in the crude state. 

If a line were to be drawn anywhere in the series it would be 
between gas and oil. The former, as we know, originates under 
many conditions in which petroleum does not appear; but, on 
the other side, petroleum is never found free from inflammable 
gas, and in a large way all the facts and the occurrences of both 
so exactly correspond that it is impossible to separate them in 
respect to their origin. 

Which of these is the original substance ? The question has 
been already answered. Petroleum is the parent product. 
From it all the varieties of the series are directly derived. 
Our task, then, is a simple one, to this extent. We are to 
inquire how rock oil originates in nature. When we can 
answer this question, we know that we understand as well 
how mineral tar and asphalt, and natural gas also, originated. 

2. In the second place, we need to bear in mind that the 


various members of the bituminous series are abundantly and 
almost universally distributed among the unaltered sedimen¬ 
tary rocks of the earth’s crust. The valuable accumulations 
of these substances are rare, it is true, but one can scarcely 
go amiss of petroleum, asphalt or gas, at least in small quan¬ 
tities, among the stratified rocks that retain their original 
structure. In particular, the rocks of the entire Ohio Valley 
< an be said to be charged with petroleum. A well can not 
be drilled at any point in the valley, for even a few hundred 


feet, in which careful examination will not reveal the presence 
of some representative of this bituminous series. The aggre¬ 
gate of this disseminated petroleum is often found to be very 
large. A fifth of one per cent, of petroleum, if distributed 
through a thousand feet of rock, would make a total to the 
acre or square mile far beyond any production that has ever 
been realized from the richest oil field, and percentages of this 
amount are not only not rare to find, but are even hard to miss. 

It is a popular impression that oil and gas are unusual sub¬ 
stances in nature. The object of this paragraph is to show 
that this impression is entirely unfounded, and that we must 
free our minds from it if we would consider in proper light the 
questions as to the origin of rock oil. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


31 


Origin of Petroleum. 

While all geologists now agree, as before stated, that petro¬ 
leum is in some way a product of the organic world, there are 
certain other theories current as to its origin that must be con¬ 
sidered in this connection. The most important class of these 
separate theories can be called chemical, as contrasted with 
and distinguished from geological theories bearing upon this 
subject. These chemical theories refer the bituminous series 
for its origin to an inorganic source, or, in other words, they 
make them the result of chemical affinity acting upon mineral 
matter. The geological theories, on the other hand, regard the 
entire bituminous series as the result of a partial and peculiar 
decomposition of vegetable or animal substances that have been 
stored in the rocks. The differences between these theories are 
wide and well marked. The chemical theories will be stated 
first. 

I. Theories of Chemical Origin. 

It has been claimed by a number of chemists, some of whom 
have high standing in the scientific world, that the several mem¬ 
bers of the series now under consideration can be referred to* a 

purely mineral origin. 

1. In 1866, the distinguished French chemist, Berthelot, pro¬ 
pounded a theory that would, in his view, account for all the 
natural hydrocarbons in this way. He supposed the alkali 
metals, viz: potassium and sodium, to exist in the interior of 

earth in a free or uncombined state, and, necessarily, at 
a high temperature. If, now, water carrying in solution cai- 
bonic acid—and the crust of the earth abounds in both—should 
find access to these metals, he pointed out the steps of the 
chemical action that must take place, and that would result 
in the formation of a series of hydrocarbon compounds. In 
this case the process of oil and gas formation would be deep- 
seated and continuous, the reactions that give birth to them 
being constantly renewed in the recesses of the earth. 

2. Another theory that invokes chemical force only for the 
origin of these bodies was advanced by the eminent Russian 
chemist, Mendeljieff, in 1877. It attracted a large measure of 
attention and interest throughout the scientific world. He 


32 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

supposed the interior of the earth to contain large masses of 
metallic iron, and also metallic carbides (compounds of carbon 
and metals), all at a high temperature. The contact of water 
under these conditions with these bodies would, in his view, 
generate metallic oxides and hydrocarbons. Mendeljieff, ac¬ 
cordingly, holds that petroleum is never of organic origin, 
but is as purely a product of chemical affinity as a veinstone 
or an ore. It would follow from this theory also that the pro¬ 
cess of oil and gas formation is continuous. This, in fact, con¬ 
stitutes its chief recommendation, as will presently be shown. 

There are several other theories of the same general character, 
but none that have been supported by as great authority, or 
that have attracted as wide attention, as the two already named. 

In regard to this class of theories, it is to be observed that 
they are the work of chemists and not of geologists, and, as 
might be expected, they match better with the chemical than 
with geological facts involved. They especially fail to account 
for the different sorts of oil and gas that characterize different 
rocks, as limestone and sandstone, for example. More import¬ 
ant still, they not only fail to account for the distribution of 
petroleum and gas, but they are entirely discordant and irrecon¬ 
cilable with the facts of distribution. 

It is further to be observed that the hypotheses which they 
depend on, and which are indispensable to the theories, are of 
the sort that are doomed forever to remain hypotheses. They 
are, in their nature, incapable of verification. They can not 
advance beyond their present stage, that of chemical and geo¬ 
logical possibilities. There are fields of scientific speculation in 
Avhich we have, and, from the nature of the case, can only have 
such materials ; but this is not true of the subjects now under 
consideration. In the fact that all of these theories “ require 
the assumption of operations nowhere witnessed in nature or 
known in technology,” we find enough to condemn them, or, at 
least, enough to forbid any large measure of confidence in them. 

It must be confessed that these chemical theories are popular 
with the general public far beyond their merits. What is the 
ground of this popularity ? The cause is not far to seek. They 
furnish to us an unwasting supply of power. They encourage 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


33 


us to expect that, in the matter of gas and oil, “to morrow shall 
be as this day or even more abundant.” 

Such doctrines are always welcome to men. Especially in 
newly-developed gas and oil fields they are sure to take strong 
root. It is natural that people, who are rejoicing in the new 
and unexpected supply of the best fuel of the world, which 
brings with it no end of incidental benefits and advantages, 
should desire to have their supply continued forever, should 
even resent the suggestion that the gas is a stored product, the 
days of which, as soon as its reservoir is tapped, are numbered. 

It is in the new gas fields, as before stated, that this chemical 
doctrine of the origin of gas and oil is likely to prevail. To 
find such doctrines current in any field is clear proof that the 
field is still in its infancy, so far as development is concerned. 
It must be added that these views are often fostered in new 
fields by those who know better, but who have an object to gain 
in pushing forward wholesale explorations. A very different 
frame of mind characterizes the operators and producers of the 
older districts. They have learned by experience, often of the 
most discouraging sort, that, without exception, the supplies of 
gas and oil when worked are gradually or even rapidly reduced, 
and that all are sure to be exhausted in no long periods of years. 
They know that these substances are stored in definite reservoirs, 
because they have exhausted these reservoirs one after another. 
Some of the reservoirs last much longer than others, but the 
duration is seen in all cases to be connected with, and dependent 
upon, their thickness and volume. 

Views as to the origin of petroleum like those already quoted, 
though they must be rejected as failing to conform to the facts, 
are still entitled to respect as embodying important chemical 
possibilities, and as characterized by learning and ingenuity. 
But the same can not be said of the many crude notions that 
are floating through the minds of some who are engaged in 
the production or utilization of gas and oil. These notions 
are often dignified with the name of theories, but they fall 
far short of the mark. Of such are the claims that natural 
gas is a product of the decomposition of salt water contained 
in the rocks, through the agency of subterranean heat. Some¬ 
times the salt water is supposed to be connected with the sea, 

OEOL. SUR.— 3 


34 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


and a still larger source of gas is thus provided. The action 
of the tides is also invoked in the same connection. 

It is needless to discuss these vague and crude ideas. They 
are not the product of knowledge, and they are not, therefore, 
amenable to scientific criticism. 

II. Theories of Organic Origin. 

The theories of the next class stand on a very different foot¬ 
ing from those already named. According to them, petroleum 
and natural gas are derived from vegetable and animal matter 
contained in the rocks in which they are found or in associated 
strata. The argument for the view is simple and direct. Com¬ 
pounds similar to or identical with petroleum and natural gas 
are easily derived by the process of destructive distillation 
from both vegetable and animal substances, as from wood, peat, 
bones, oil, &c. 

The manufacture of artificial gas from bituminous coal is 

also a familiar illustration of the possibilities in this direction. 
Bituminous shale may be substituted for coal in the manufact¬ 
ure, and may be made to yield a series of these bituminous 
products, including both petroleum and gas. 

Further than this, the decay of vegetation, at ordinary tem¬ 
peratures, gives rise to light carburetted hydrogen or marsh gas, 
if the air is excluded from the decaying substance. These con¬ 
ditions are met when vegetable matter, as wood and leaves, is 
buried at the bottom of ponds and lakes, or on a larger scale, 
in the beds of glacial drift. As is well known, large accumula¬ 
tions of ancient vegetation are buried in or beneath the bowlder 
clay in many parts of the country, and these masses sometimes 

yield gas in large enough amount to be of economic value. Peat 
bogs not only yield inflammable gas, but it is held by respectable 
authority that they sometimes produce other members of the 
bituminous series, nearly allied to petroleum and asphaltum. 
In a word, it is scarcely too much to say that in the natural or 
artificial decomposition of organic substances in the absence of 
air, both petroleum and gas are normal products. If this is so, 
and if in the rocks both material and force are found that would 
produce these substances in the ordinary course of nature, why 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


35 


invent far-fetched and unverifiable theories to account for their 
presence ? 

While, therefore, the derivation of petroleum and gas, from 
vegetable or animal substances, is at present accepted by all 
whose opinions on the subject are entitled to consideration, there 
is still a good deal of diversity of view as to the manner in 
which the work has gone forward. In fact, the inquirer soon 
learns that beyond the general conclusion already noted, there is 
little agreement among our most responsible authorities as to 
the particular mode of origin of the substances under discussion. 
There is not only a want of positive knowledge upon the sub¬ 
ject, but there is also a lack of self-consistent and thorough¬ 
going theory. Two views have become especially prominent in 
this country in the discussions of the last twenty years, and to 
the one or other of these, most of those persons who seek for 
well-balanced and presentable opinions on this line of questions, 
are found to subscribe. 

The first view is, that petroleum is in large part derived from 
the 'primary decomposition of organic matter that was stored 
in or associated with the strata that now contains it. Accord¬ 
ing to this view, the decomposition was mainly efiected in situ y 
and the product resulting is therefore mainly indigenous to 
the rock in which it is found. The last feature is seized upon 
in most popular statements, and a theory of indigenous origin 
is made to include most beliefs in this class. It must be borne 
in mind, however, that no author is to be found who holds 
strictly and consistently to such indigenous origin; but the 
name can still be used as a general designation without harm. 

The second view is, that petroleum is derived from the sec¬ 
ondary decomposition of organic matter stored in the rocks. 
It supposes the original vegetable and animal matter to have 
suffered a partial transformation, and to be now held in the 
rocks as hydrocarbon compounds, from which, by a process 
of distillation, oil and gas are derived. The so-called bitumi¬ 
nous shales are counted the chief sources of these products. 
After distillation, it is held that the gas and oil are mainly 
carried upward by hydrostatic pressure to some overlying 
porous stratum that serves as a reservoir. This class of views 
can be conveniently grouped under the name of the distillation 
theory. A few words will be devoted to each of these theories. 


36 


11EP0RT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


1. Theory of Origin from Primary Decomposition of 

Organic Matter, 

a. Statement of Hunt's Theory. 

The most elaborate and effective exposition of the theory that 
petroleum is derived from the primary decomposition of organic 
tissue is that of Dr. T. Sterry Hunt. He urges, with great 
force and vigor, the view that petroleum mainly originates in, 
and is derived from, limestones. When found in limestones he 
counts the oil indigenous, but when found elsewhere, as in sand¬ 
stones and conglomerates, he counts it adventitious, and he then 
refers it to underlying limestones. In regard to this latter point, 
however, he makes concessions, as will be seen on a later page. 

The following extracts from various articles that he has pub¬ 
lished contain a clear statement of his views upon this subject. 

In speaking of the oil fields of Canada, he says: 

“ The facts observed in this locality appear to show that the 
petroleum, or the substance which has given rise to it, was de¬ 
posited in the bed in which it is now found at the formation 
of the rock. We may suppose in these oil-bearing beds an 
accumulation of organic matters, whose decomposition in the 
midst of a marine calcareous deposit has resulted in their com¬ 
plete transformation into petroleum, which has found a lodg¬ 
ment in the cavities of the shells and corals immediately near. 
Its absence from the unfilled cells of corals in the adjacent and 
interstratified beds forbids the idea of the introduction of the 
oil into these strata either by distillation or by infiltration. The 
same observations apply to the Trenton limestone, and if it shall 
be hereafter shown that the source of petroleum (as distin¬ 
guished from asphalt) in other regions is to be found in marine 
fossiliferous limestones, a step will have been made toward a 
knowledge of the chemical conditions necessary to its forma¬ 
tion.” A. J. S. (2), 35, 168. 

Again he says: 

“ In opposition to the generally received view, which supposes 
the oil to originate from a slow destructive distillation of the 
black pyroschists, belonging to the middle and upper Devonian, 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


37 


I have maintained that it exists, ready formed, in the limestones 
below.” A. J. S. (2), 46, 361. 

This statement seems to recognize the possibility of the trans¬ 
fer of petroleum from its sources to reservoirs in associated 
strata. 

Again, after describing the occurrence of petroleum in certain 
fossils and certain layers of the Corniferous limestone, he says: 

“ The facts observed in this locality appear to show that the 
petroleum, or the substance that has given rise to it, was de¬ 
posited in the bed in which it is now found at the formation of 
the rock.” A. J. S. (2), 35-157. 

Finally, in referring to the bitumen-bearing dolomite in the 
Niagara series near Chicago, he says: 

“With such sources ready formed in the earth’s crust, it 
seems to me, to say the least, unphilosophical to search else¬ 
where for the origin of petroleum, and to suppose it to be 
derived by some unexplained process from rocks which are 
destitute of the substance.” (Essays, p. 174.) 

In this passage, also, a possible transfer of petroleum seems to 
be recognized. 

These statements leave nothing to be desired as to clearness 
and explicitness. The author’s view could not well be put into 
more concise terms than he has used. It must be added, how¬ 
ever, that he has sometimes described the oil of Pennsylvania 
and Ohio as indigenous to the Devonian and Carboniferous 
sandstones which contain it. (Essays, p. 171.) 

Professor J. P. Lesley has also urged the view that petroleum 
is derived, at least in some conspicuous instances, from vegetable 
remains that are still found associated with it in the rocks; but 
he does not theorize as to whether it results from primary or 
secondary decomposition. In a well-known paper on the pe¬ 
troleum of the eastern coal field of Kentucky, he refers this 
petroleum to the great conglomerate at the base of the coal 
measures. He says: 

“ A conglomerate age, or horizon of petroleum, exists. This is 
the main point to be stated, and must be kept in view apart 
from all other ages or horizons of oil, whether later or earlier in 
order of geological time. The rock itself is full of the remains 
of coal plants, from the decomposition of which the oil 


38 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

seems to have been made. * * * For hundreds of square 
miles this vast stratum of ancient sea-sand is a thick packed 
herbarium of coal-measure plants. * * * We can easily con¬ 

ceive of the wide, Hat, sandy shores of the coal islands of the 
ancient archipelago of the coal era becoming completely charged 
with the decomposed and decomposable reliquiae of both the 
plants of the land and the animals of the sea.” 

Professor I. C. White has also supported the view that the 
petroleum of the third oil sand of Venango county, Pennsyl¬ 
vania, is indigenous to this rock, basing his belief on the 
abundance of vegetable remains that he finds in the outcrop 
of this sandstone in Erie county, Pennsylvania. (See report 
on Erie county, 2d Pennsylvania Survey, page 239.) 

Professor J. D. Whitney has expressed the belief that all 
of the bituminous minerals of California, including asphalt 
and petroleum, are derived from the remains of infusoria in 
mineral limestones, but he has not expanded this view into 

any formal statement. 

«/ 

The opinions of several eminent American geologists have 
now been quoted in support of the general view that petro¬ 
leum and gas originate in the strata in which they are found, 
and, so far a't least as the most extended statement is concerned, 
by the primary decomposition of organic matter. 

The testimony of geologists from other parts of the world 
could also be adduced to support the above-named view if it 
were counted necessary at this point. It is enough to say 
that the opinions of a number are on record which express in 
the clearest manner a belief in the primary derivation, and 
thus in the indigenous origin, of petroleum. 

II. Theory of Origin from Distillation. 

The second of the main theories previously noted, viz: that 
petroleum and gas are the product of the secondary rather 
than of the primary decomposition of organic substances, or, 
in other words, that they are derived from the hydrocarbons 
of the rocks by a process of distillation, is accepted far more 
widely than the view previously named. In connection with 
this theory, it has always been held that these products of 
distillation are carried upward by hydrostatic pressure to be 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


39 


stored in porous reservoirs or to escape at the surface. This 
doctrine has, without doubt, aided in giving currency to the 
distillation theory with which it has always been associated ; but 
it must be observed that it is not incompatible with the first- 
named theory of the origin of petroleum, and that it has been 
of necessity recognized, at least by implication, by the advocates 
of the first theory. Whatever the origin of petroleum, it is 
certain that it has been accumulated by the method here indi¬ 
cated, at least in many instances. The distillation theory must, 
therefore, be considered by itself. 

That petroleum and gas can be produced from coal, bituminous 
shales and other rocks, by the process of destructive distillation, 
is known to all. The same products, we should have a right to 
expect, if similar rocks should be subjected to volcanic heat 
while buried deep below the surface. 

When, therefore, we find these or other members of the bitu¬ 
minous group present in the rocks of volcanic districts, or in 
the neighborhood of hot springs, or, in a word, in regions where 
elevated rock temperatures prevail, or have recently prevailed, 
we refer them without hesitation to a process of distillation from 
the strata which the heat has traversed* Conditions are seen to 
be at hand similar to those which we establish in the artificial 
production of these substances. It may be added, in passing, 
that petroleum and asphalt are very frequently found under the 
circumstances named above. 

Such an origin can not, however, be made out for the great 
supplies of petroleum and gas in the Eastern United States. 
These are, without exception, drawn from regions which have 
never been invaded by igneous rocks, and which have been but 
little disturbed by geological accidents, the uniform and monot¬ 
onous dip of their formations being only occasionally inter¬ 
rupted by the low arches that traverse them. 

b. Statement of Newberry* s Distillation Theory. 

The theory that has been most elaborately stated, and most 
widely accepted, of all advanced to account for the oil and gas 
of the Allegheny field, is that of Prof. J. S. Newberry, who 
refers the origin of these substances to the extensive deposits of 


40 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

Devonian and Subcarboniferous shales, and particularly black 
shales, that underlie the productive districts. He considers 
petroleum and gas the products of a slow spontaneous distilla¬ 
tion of the organic matter of the shales, and he regards the 
process of their formation a continuous one. 

In his noted paper on the “ Rock Oils of Ohio,” published in 
the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1859, he says : 

“The precise process by which petroleum is evolved from the 
carbonaceous matter contained in the rocks which furnish it is 
not yet fully known, because we can not in ordinary circum¬ 
stances inspect it. We may fairly infer, however, that it is a 
distillation , though generally performed at a low temperature .” 

Again he says (Geology of Ohio, Vol. I, p. 192): 

“The origin of the two hydrocarbons (petroleum and gas) is 
the same, and they are evolved simultaneously by the sponta¬ 
neous distillation of carbonaceous rocks.” 

In Vol. I, Geology of Ohio, p. 158, he says: 

4 ‘ I have already referred to the Huron shale as a probable 
source of the greater part of the petroleum obtained in this 
country. * * * The considerations which have led me to 
adopt this view are briefly these: 

“First. We have in the Huron shale a vast repository of 
solid hydro-carbonaceous matter, which may be made to yield 
ten to twenty gallons of oil to the ton by artificial distillation. 
Like all other organic matter, this is constantly undergoing 
spontaneous distillation , except where hermetically sealed deep 
under rock and water. This results in the formation of oil and 
gas, closely resembling those which we make artificially from 
the same substance, the manufactured differing from the nat¬ 
ural products only because we can not imitate accurately the 
process of nature. 

“Second . A line of oil and gas springs marks the outcrop of 

the Huron shale from New York to Tennessee. The rock itself 

«• 

is frequently found saturated with petroleum, and the over- 
lying strata, if porous, are sure to be more or less impregnated 
with it. 

“Third. The wells on Oil Creek penetrate the strata immedi¬ 
ately overlying the Huron shale, and the oil is obtained from 
the fissured and porous sheets of sandstone of the Portage and 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 41 

Chemung groups, which lie just above the Huron, and offer con- 
venient reservoirs for the oil it furnishes.” 

So far, at least, as pointing out the sources of Pennsylvania 
oil and gas, this statement has met with wide acceptance among 
geologists. 

c. Statement of Beckham’s Distillation Theory. 

There is, however, another statement of the distillation 
theory that must be briefly considered. It is that of Prof. S. 
F. Peckham. It is clear and self-consistent, recognizing all 
the necessary factors and conditions. He refers the oil and 
gas of Pennsylvania, and adjacent territory, to a distillation 
effected by the heat that accompanied the elevation of the 
Appalachian mountain system. He says (Tenth Census Re¬ 
ports, X, 70): 

“Bitumens are not the product of the high temperatures 
and violent action of volcanoes, but of the slow and gentle 
changes at low temperature, due to metamorphic action upon 
strata buried at immense depths. * * * It is not necessary 
here to discuss the nature or origin of metamorphic action. 
It is sufficient for our purpose to know that from the Upper 
Silurian to the close of the Carboniferous periods the currents 
of the primeval ocean were transporting sediments from north¬ 
east to south-west, sorting them into gravel, sand and clay, 
forming gravel-bars and great sand-beds beneath the riffles, 
and clay-banks in still water, burying vast accumulations of 
sea-weeds and sea-animals far beneath the surface. The alter¬ 
ation, due to the combined action of heat, steam and pressure 
that involved the formations of the Appalachian system from 
Point Gaspe, in Canada, to Lookout Mountain, in Tennessee, 
involving the Carboniferous and earlier strata, distorting and 
folding them, and converting the coal into anthracite, and the 
clays into crystalline schists, along their eastern border, could 
not have ceased to act westward along an arbitrary line, but must 
have gradually died out further and further from the surface. 

“The great beds of shale and limestone, containing fucoids, 
animal remains and even indigenous petroleum, must have been 
invaded by this heat action to a greater or less degree * 

“Too little is known about petroleum at this time to enable 


42 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

any one to explain all the phenomena attending its occurrence 
on any hypothesis, but it seems to me that the different varie¬ 
ties of petroleum * * * are the products of fractional dis¬ 
tillation, and one of the strongest proofs of this hypothesis is 
found in the large content of paraffine in the Bradford oil under 
the enormous pressure to which it is subjected. * * * 

“If this hypothesis * * * really represents the opera¬ 
tions of nature, then we must seek the evidences of heat action 
at a depth far below the unaltered rocks in which the petroleum 
is now stored. 1 ' 

The statements now presented, inadequate and unfinished as 
they appear, are the most careful and extended that have* been 
made upon the subject by American geologists. They bring 
before us two main views as to the origin of petroleum, viz : 

(1.) Petroleum is produced by the primary decomposition of 
organic matter, and mainly in the rocks that contained the 
organic matter. Of this view Hunt is one of the chief advo¬ 
cates. 

(2.) Petroleum results from the distillation of organic hydro¬ 
carbons contained in the rocks, and has generally been trans¬ 
ferred to strata higher than those in which it was formed. 
Newberry and Peckham have been quoted at length in support 
of this general theory. Newberry holds that a slow and 
constant distillation is in progress at low temperatures. Peck- 
ham refers the distillation of the petroleum of the great 
American fields to the heat connected with the elevation and 
metamorphism of the Appalachian mountain system. 

These three views, as to the date of the origin of petroleum 
and gas, are seen to cover almost all of the possibilities in 
regard to the subject. Hunt believes petroleum to have been 
produced at the time that the rocks that contain it were formed, 
once for all. Newberry believes it to have been in process of 
formation, slowly and constantly, since the strata were de¬ 
posited. Peckham refers it to a definite but distant time in the 
past, but long subsequent to the formation of the petroliferous 
strata. He supposes it to have been stored in its subterranean 
reservoirs from that time to the present. 

In these several statements as to origin, two questions are 
seen to be especially prominent, viz: What particular kinds or 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


43 


classes of rocks are the sources of petroleum, and what is the 
nature of the chemical processes involved in its production % 

In answering the first question, we find the views of Hunt 
and Newberry distinctly opposed to each other. Hunt counts 
limestones the principal source of petroleum, and denies that it 
has been produced by distillation from bituminous shales, while 
Newberry finds in these shales the main source of both oil and 
gas, and vigorously opposes the view that limestones are ever 
an important source of either. (Geology of Ohio, 1, 159.) 

It is not necessary to follow the discussion in relation to these 
points further. It is enough to say that, in the light of present 
knowledge, each statement is right in what it asserts, and wrong 
in what it denies. Petroleum is undoubtedly indigenous to, 
and derived from, certain limestones, as Hunt has so strongly 
asserted. The Trenton limestone is undoubtedly the most im¬ 
portant source of oil and gas in the geological scale of the United 
States at the present time. On the other hand, Newberry’s doc¬ 
trine, that the great supplies of the Pennsylvania field are 
derived from Devonian shales, is becoming more firmly estab¬ 
lished and more generally accepted every year, though it seems 
likely that he has laid too much stress on bituminous shales. 

In other words, the theories are not exclusive of each other. 
Different fields have different sources. We can accept, without 
inconsistency, the adventitious origin of the oil in Pennsylvania 
sandstones, and its indigenous origin in the shales of California, 
or in the limestones of Canada, Kentucky or Ohio. 

The double origin of petroleum from both limestones and 
s p a l es _ an d it is not necessary to exclude sandstones from the 
list of possible sources—deserves to be universally accepted. In 
confirmation of this double origin, it is coming to be recognized 
that the oil and gas derived from these two sources generally 
differ from each other in noticeable respects. The oil and gas 
derived from limestones contain a larger proportion of sulphur 
than is found in the oil and gas of the shales. Sulphur com¬ 
pounds impart to the oil a rank and persistent odor, from which 
they can be freed only with great difficulty. In the case of the 
oil-bearing shales of California, the petroleum is apparently 
derived from the animal remains with which the formation was 
orio’inally filled. In composition, this oil agrees with the lime- 


44 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

stone oils already described. Peckham says of these California 
oils: 

“The exceedingly unstable character of these petroleums, 
considered in connection with the amount of nitrogen that they 
contain, and the vast accumulation of animal remains in the 
strata from which they issue, together with the fact that the 
fresh oils soon become filled with the larvae of insects to such an 
extent that pools of petroleum become pools of maggots, all 
lend support to the theory that the oils are of animal origin.” 

He speaks again of this class of petroleums as formed of 
animal matter that has not been subjected to destructive distilla¬ 
tion. ( Ibid ., p. 71.) 

It is possible that the oil and gas derived from animal remains 
can be distinguished from those of the bituminous shales by the 
characters above described. Certain it is that the “limestone 
oils” differ in physical characteristics from the Pennsylvania 
oils, for example, in a marked degree. They are dark in color; 
they are heavy oils, their gravity ranging generally from 34 
degrees to 36 degrees Beaume, though sometimes rising to 40 
degrees, or even 42 degrees. They have a rank odor, arising 
from the sulphurous compounds which they contain. The oils 
of Canada, Kentucky and Tennessee, and of the new field in 
Northwestern Ohio, all agree in these respects, and the oil and 
gas of the Utica shale and Hudson river group of the State 
fall into the same category. 

The organic matter of the bituminous shales has not been 
positively referred in the preceding statements to a vegetable 
source. Such a source is highly probable ; but it cannot be said 
to be fully demonstrated until the origin of the so-called spor- 
angites of the shales is finally determined. There are a few 
geologists who are inclined to refer these forms to hydroid 
zoophytes (animal) rather than with Dawson to marine plants 
(rhizocarps). It must be added that there is a growing ten¬ 
dency among German investigators to refer petroleum to an 
animal origin. Professor Hans Hofer of the K. K. Berg-Akad 
emie, Leoben, Austria, urges this view in his excellent treatise, 
Das Erdol (Braunschweig, 1888). Professor C. Engler, of Carls- 
ruhe, has also given the results of recent experiments directed 
to this point. (Berichte der DeutscJien Chemischen Gesell- 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


45 


schcift , 1888 (21-1816). He distilled 1,000 pounds of menhaden 
(fish) oil at a temperature of 350 degrees to 400 degrees Fahren¬ 
heit under a pressure of two atmospheres. The distillate con¬ 
sisted of combustible gases, water and 600 pounds of oil, 
resembling crude petroleum in appearance and reactions, and in 
fact identical with it, so far as chemical behavior was concerned. 
While this cannot be considered any thing like a reproduction 
of the circumstances under which petroleum was really formed, 
the results are full of interest and significance. 

Statements have now been made of three of the most promi¬ 
nent theories advanced by American geologists as to the origin 
of petroleum, based upon its derivation from organic matter. 
The statements have been made mainly in the words of their 
authors. 

Which of these theories is best supported? Which, if any, 
is to be accepted as a probable account of the origin of this 
important group of substances ? If any modifications are 
required, what are they, and how are they to be applied ? 

The answers to these questions will come out to view in the 
discussions of the theories that are now to follow. In these 
discussions, the order in which the theories have been stated 
will be reversed, and the last will be considered first 

Discussion of Theories of Origin. 
a. Discussion of Peckham's Theory. 

This theory, it will be remembered, refers the origin of the 
petroleum of the Pennsylvania field, the only great American 
field at the time when the theory was first put forward, to the 
destructive distillation of carbonaceous matter in the rocks, by 
the heat involved in the elevation of the Appalachian mountain 
system. It considers higher temperatures than those which are 
found at or near the surface as necessary to the transformation, 
and directs us “to seek the source of heat action far below the 
unaltered rocks in which the petroleum is now found.” 

How far below? If we descend 1,000 or 1,500 feet below the 
Berea grit, which is a great repository of oil and gas in Western 
Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio, we reach the great series of 
Devonian and Upper Silurian limestones, upon which the Ohio 


46 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


shale rests, and this latter stratum is the only source that we 
know in our series of oil and gas of the Pennsylvania type. 
But the drill has repeatedly gone down 1,000 or 1,500 feet below 
the Berea grit, and not a trace or hint of metamorphic action is 
found in the drillings that are brought up. In such drillings 
from the deep well at Canal Dover, Ohio, 2,700 feet below the 
surface, and even 1,800 feet below the Berea grit, the micro¬ 
scopic spores that make so characteristic a feature of the black 
shales were found in normal condition. All observations attest 

4 

not only the general uniformity of the shale formation through¬ 
out the State and at all depths, but also the entire absence 
of any appearance of metamorphic action. 

The same line of facts obtains in regard to the limestones 
underneath the shales. They have been penetrated to a great 
depth. The drill in the well of the Cleveland rolling-mill rested 
at 3,200 feet below the surface, but the limestones at the bottom 
of the hole showed no signs whatever of metamorphism. The 
same is true of all the recent deep borings of Pennsylvania and 
Ohio. The Westinghouse well of Pittsburg is the deepest well 
that has ever been drilled, but no report of metamorphosed rock 
comes from its deepest drillings. Nearly the whole of the 
Lower Silurian system has been penetrated at many points, and 
new supplies of oil and gas are found in these rocks, but they 
obviously come from the limestones themselves, and differ in a 
marked degree from the oil and gas of the shales. In Canada 
the Trenton limestone bears oil where it is separated by only a 
stratum of sandstone from the old granite floor of the continent. 
Still more striking facts in this connection are derived from the 
experience of some Ohio towns in which wells have been drilled 
2,000 feet below the top of the Trenton limestone. Such wells 
have been drilled in Springfield and Dayton, Ohio, and not a 
trace of metamorphic action has appeared in even the deepest 
drillings that have been brought up. 

But, in the second place, Peckham demands for oil production 
“ slow and gentle changes at low temperature.” We must 
again ask for a limit. How low a temperature ? Must it not 
be high enough to agree with the facts of observation and ex¬ 
periment as to the production of gas and oil by the destruc¬ 
tive distillation of bituminous shales % The temperature 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


47 


at which such changes are effected in the laboratory will scarcely 
be placed below 350 or 400 degrees Fahrenheit. But the shales 
could not be brought to this degree without suffering meta- 
morphic change. They contain alkaline solutions in greater or 
less amount, and both Bischof and Hunt have shown that when 
such compounds are present, they become powerful solvents of 
silica and silicates at as low a temperature as 212 degrees 
Fahrenheit. If, then, the temperature had been raised to even 
212 degrees Fahrenheit, there would have been unmistakable 
evidences of the fact left in the constitution of the rocks. 

But if a lower temperature is proposed than that which 
we are obliged to use in effecting destructive distillation in 
the laboratory, we are compelled to ask, on what authority ? It 
is of no use to answer that we do not know at how low 
temperatures this distillation can be accomplished in nature, for 
this would be an appeal to our ignorance and not to our knowl¬ 
edge. If we reason upon the subject at all, we must be 
governed by the facts that our experience affords. Any 
other way of reaching an answer is assumption, pure and 
simple. 

In the third place, it has always seemed necessary to this 
theory, that a coke or carbonized residue should be left in the 
rocks which give rise to the petroleum. Inability to point out 
such a residue seems to have been one of the reasons that 
led our author to locate the source of the oil-distilling heat 
at such a great depth, lie counts a carbon residue a necessity, 
but he buries the rock from which the petroleum is derived 
so deep that we cannot expect to obtain any direct knowledge 
of it. As has already been shown, in doing this, he drops 
below the only known source of oil and gas of the Pennsylvania 

type. 

The absence of these residual products has hitherto consti¬ 
tuted a real difficulty in the way of any distillation theory, but 
the recent remarkable researches of Professor Engler, which 
have been noted on a preceding page, have done something 
towards meeting this previously unanswered objection. He 
shows that the products of the fish oil upon which he experi¬ 
mented would, under certain conditions, be entirely changed 
into gases, water and volatile oil. He further showed that if 


48 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


all the oxygen of these compounds should combine with part 
of the hydrogen to form water, 87 per cent, of carbon and 13 
per cent, of hydrogen would remain. But these percentages 
are the exact proportions of carbon and hydrogen respectively 
in crude petroleum, as has been shown in all of the authoritative 
analyses of this substance that have been made. It must 
be conceded, therefore, that the objection against the distillation 
theory, which is based on the absence of a carbon residue, can 
no longer be counted altogether valid. The first two objections, 
however, still retain their force, and we are obliged to conclude, 
after giving them due consideration, that Peckham’s theory 
does not harmonize with the facts of geology in the main oil 
fields. If it fails to furnish a satisfactory explanation in the 
fields for which it was especially devised, much less will it serve 
to explain the new oil field of Ohio, with which no mountain 
making or considerable disturbance has ever been connected. 

b. Discussion of Newberry's Distillation Theory. 

Precisely what is meant by the term “ spontaneous distilla¬ 
tion,” in Dr. Newberry’s theory, it is not easy to determine, as 
his statements are not explicit in regard to all the points 
in regard to which questions would arise. He does not seem to 
require for oil production any unusual temperature. He speaks 
of the distillation as “ constant,” and as going on “at alow 
temperature.” He never uses the term “destructive distilla¬ 
tion,” and though he sometimes compares the production of 
natural gas to processes included under the head of destructive 
distillation, there are other passages in which he seems to make 
distillation cover the ordinary decomposition of organic matter 
in stations from which the air is mainly excluded. This is not, 
however, an authorized use of the word. Distillation, as dis¬ 
tinguished from decomposition, requires and depends upon the 
action of temperatures decidedly above the normal; in other 
words, of high rather than of low temperatures. In fact, there is 
no process known under the name of distillation by which the 
substances under consideration could be produced from organic 
matter in the rocks, except destructive distillation. Destructive 
distillation is the heating of organic substances beyond the 
point of decomposition without access of air. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


49 


Those who have criticised Newberry's theory have, in all 
instances, counted destructive distillation as involved. If it 
does not involve destructive distillation, then the theory re¬ 
quires to be restated and defined anew. If it could be shown 
that, under the pressure of great depths, and with the normal 
increase of temperature due to descent, the transformations in 
question can go on, then a basis would be supplied for this 
phase of the distillation theory, but, so far as known, there 
are no facts to warrant the belief that such a state of things is 
true. If, instead of distillation, this theory should substitute 
decomposition of organic tissues at ordinary temperatures 
without access of air, it would approach the theory of Hunt, 
that petroleum is due to the primary decomposition of organic 
matter. 

The objections that have been urged against the distillation 
theory of Peckham apply with equal force to Newberry’s theory. 
Distillation is not accomplished, so far as we know, at a tempera¬ 
ture lower than 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and there seems good 
reason to believe that the petroleum-bearing rocks of the 
Mississippi Valley have never been raised to this temperature. 
They do not show the mineralogical characters that we should 
have a right to expect if they had ever passed the boiling point 
o f Welter 

c. Discussion of Hunt's Theory. 

Dr. Hunt’s theory, that petroleum originates in the primary 
decomposition of organic substances, remains to be considered. 
It is the simplest of the theories that have been stated, and it 
harmonizes well with a great number of geological facts. 
The author seems to have formed it to meet certain classes 
of facts that were difficult to explain by the distillation theory. 
His restriction of oil production to limestones must, of course, 
be discarded. He denies that the so-called bituminous shales, 

4 'except in rare instances, contain any petroleum or other form 
of bitumen.” (Essays, 169.) This statement is singularly wide 
of the mark so far as the great shale formation of New York, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky is concerned. It is indeed 
surprising that any geologist could have expressed such an 
opinion as this in regard to any of the shale formations, because 
the proofs of the presence of petroleum in shales are patent, 

GEOL. SUR.— 4 


f)0 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

unmistakable and universal. Moreover, chemical analysis 
of the shales, with reference to this point, has been made, 
and quantitative determinations of the amount of free oil that 
they carry have been placed on record. The exact converse of 
Dr. Hunt’s statement is true. Petroleum is present in all fresh 
samples of bituminous shale, not potentially, but actually, 
existing in them as petroleum, and the amount is susceptible of 
measurement. (See Gfeol. of Ohio, VI, 413.) 

The highest percentage thus far found is small, it is true, 
being one-fifth of one per cent.; but, as already shown, when 
such a percentage is applied to a few hundred feet of shale, 
their total oil contents become very large. Prof. N. S. Shaler 
puts the facts in regard to this formation in clear light, in 
his discussion of the Ohio shale as it is found in Central 
Kentucky. (Geol. Survey of Kentucky, Sec. Series, III, 169.) 

A similar distribution of petroleum is also found in the 
Shales ot the Utica and Hudson River age of the Low Silurian 
system. 

It must not be inferred from these statements, however, that 
the shales monopolize the petroleum of the bedded rocks of the 
Mississippi Valley. The claim that the limestones are distinctly 
petroliferous is abundantly established by examination of the 
various strata. Every important member of the entire scale 
contains, disseminated through at least portions of its extent, 
petroleum in large enough amount to admit of measurement. 
The Trenton limestone, the Clinton, Niagara, Lower Helderberg, 
Corniferous and St. Louis limestones, each and all furnish con¬ 
spicuous examples of its presence in noteworthy amount. 

The sandstones of the scale have not been brought into this 
list of petroliferous rocks, but every one knows that they in fact 
constitute the great petroleum reservoirs. It is believed, how¬ 
ever, that they obtain their stocks mainly at second-hand, and 
their offices, in the way of the storage of gas and oil, will 
accordingly be treated under another head. 

The limestones and the shales of our geological series are thus 
seen to agree in these respects. Both of them carry petroleum 
through all of their substance, and the product of each 
class has its own characteristics. In other words, these 
supplies appear to be indigenous to the rocks of both groups. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


51 


Dr. Hunt’s theory as to the petroleum in these limestones is, 
that it was formed in them at the time the beds themselves 
were formed “ by a peculiar transformation of vegetable matters, 
or, in some cases, of animal tissues analogous to them in com¬ 
position.” This is vague, it is true, and the stress is perhaps 
laid on the wrong element; but why shall it not be extended for 
what it is worth to the other section of our rocks in which 
petroleum occurs under precisely similar conditions ? If there 
is good reason for believing in the contemporaneous origin of 
oil and gas in the limestones, and if there is advantage to be 
derived from the doctrine as applied to them, the same reason 
will be found to exist in the case of the shales, and they should 
be allowed the same advantage. 

The main question, however, is this, viz: Can this “peculiar 
transformation,” to which Hunt appeals, be substantiated? 
Does his theory rest upon processes which are known to be in 
present operation in the world ? Unless proof can be furnished 
of the reality of the transformation of organic matter directly 
into the bituminous series, this theory makes no better show 
than the “spontaneous distillation” theory which has already 
been considered. The latter will furnish a very good account of 
the facts of petroleum occurrence if no questions are asked 
in regard to it; but when followed back, it is found to rest 
upon an entirely unsupported assumption, viz : that distillation 
of carbonaceous matter will go forward in the rocks at or¬ 
dinary temperatures, as, for example, at temperatures below 
100 degrees Fahrenheit. For such an assumption, as al¬ 
ready stated, we have no warrant whatever in the facts 
of observation. 

Dr. Hunt’s theory, in like manner, explains in a very satisfac¬ 
tory way all the facts as to the distribution of petroleum in the 
rocks, but is the theory able to give a good account of itself f 
Are its own foundations properly laid ? 

The answers to these questions are not all that we could wish, 
but it is still true that the theory now under consideration is in 
decidedly better shape in this respect than the theories that 
have been already examined. 

What proof does Hunt adduce that organic matter passes 


52 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

directly , by primary decomposition, into some of the compounds 
of the bituminous series ? 

One of the most important lines of facts that he presents is 
derived from the reports of Wall and Kruger (Proc. Geol. Soc., 
London, May, 1860), upon the so-called asphalt lake of the 
Island of Trinidad, at the mouth of the Orinoco river. A 
remarkable passage occurs in Mr. Wall’s report which bears 
directly upon the question before us. It is as follows, two sen¬ 
tences being italicised : 

“ When in situ, it (the asphalt) is confined to particular 
strata, which were originally shales, containing a certain pro¬ 
portion of vegetable debris. The organic matter has undergone 
a special mineralization, producing bituminous in place of 
ordinary anthraciferous substances. This operation is not 
attributable to heat nor to the nature of distillation, but is 
due to chemical reaction at the ordinary temperature and under 
the normal conditions of the climate. The proofs that this 
is the true mode of the generation of the asphalt repose not 
only on the partial manner in which it is distributed in the 
strata, but also on numerous specimens of the vegetable matter 
in process of transformation, and with the organic structure 
more or less obliterated. After the removal by solution of the 
bituminous material under the microscope, a remarkable altera¬ 
tion and corrosion of the vegetable cells becomes apparent, 
which is not presented in any other form of the mineralization 
of wood. * * * Sometimes the emission is in the form of a 
dense, oily liquid, from which the volatile elements gradually 
evaporate, leaving a solid residue.” (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 
XVI, 467.) 

According to the statements of these observers who appear 
to be intelligent and discriminating, the facts are as follows : 

Beds of shale, formed in comparatively recent times beneath 
the sea, but now raised above its level, containing in abund¬ 
ance vegetable remains brought down by the Orinoco river, 
near the mouth of which Trinidad is situated, are yielding 
petroleum in large amount, by a direct decomposition of vege¬ 
table tissues, and the petroleum rapidly passes into asphalt, 
inasmuch as it is exposed directly to the atmosphere. 

This valuable deposit is known as a lake, but the designation 


AND ASPHALT HOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


53 


is misleading. It lias but few characteristics of a lake, except 
that its surface is level. It is situated about three miles from 
the sea, and about 100 feet above its level. It has an area 
of about 114 acres. Its depth has not been reliably ascertained, 
but on the strength of a few rude borings, it has been reported 
to be about 18 feet thick at the sides, and 78 feet in the centre. 
There is said to be a bed of blue clay underlying it. As stated 
above, the surface is a level tract of brownish material, 
traversed by cracks or fissures, which are a few feet in depth 
and width, and which are sometimes filled with rain water. 
Others of them are filled with soil, blown into them by the 
winds, and such support a scanty vegetation. A statement re¬ 
lating to this deposit appeared in the “Mineral Resources 
of the United States,” 1883-4, page 937, which is surprisingly 
erroneous. The statement is in these words, viz : “ Near the 
margin (of the lake) the asplialtum is solid, or nearly so, grad¬ 
ing off to a viscous liquid in the center, where it reaches a 
temperature of several hundred degress centigrade.” When 
it is remembered that 100 degrees centigrade stands for 212 
degrees Fahrenheit, and that 200 degrees, the smallest number 
that could possibly be counted, “several hundred,” stands for 
392 degrees Fahrenheit, and that 300 degrees centigrade is 
572 degrees Fahrenheit, the surprising features of the statement 
come to view. 

The fact is, that the deposit is solid throughout, and pre¬ 
sumably of one and the same temperature from center to 
circumference, and this temperature the normal of its location. 
Carts and mules can be driven anywhere upon its surface. 
The only fact that could be perverted into a statement of 
the liquidity of the lake is the observation that the surface of 
the lake has not been appreciably lowered by the removal of the 
200,000 tons, less or more, that have been taken out for the 
paving of the streets of American towns. It is possible that the 
mass retains plasticity enough under its normal pressure to fill 
the excavations that the workings leave, but no explicit state¬ 
ments on this point are at hand. When loaded on shipboard, 
the separate blocks reunite, and it has to be removed from 
the hold by pick and shovel, as from the original bed. (See 
paper on Asphalt, A. I. M. E., Vol. XVII, F. V. Greene.) 


54 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

There are many other localities, in the countries that border 
on the Gulf of Mexico, and in the islands that it includes, that 
furnish bituminous products on a large scale, all seeming to 
show that petroleum is in process of active formation there 
at the present time. Barbadoes tar has long been exported 
to Europe, and Cuban asphalt also has a considerable impor¬ 
tance. 

Petroleum, rapidly hardening into asphalt, is also recorded 
as occurring in some of the small tributaries of the Coaxocoal- 
cas river in Central America. The petroleum seems to arise 
from the decomposition of vegetable remains with which certain 
beds of shale are stored. (Major J. G. Barnard’s Survey of the 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec, U. S. Government Reports, page 159.) 

From the fact that all of the chief bituminous accumulations 
of recent age belong to the torrid zone, it seems necessary to 
conclude that a tropical climate, or a climate of 80 degrees. 
Fahrenheit at least, is most favorable, if not essential, to a 
large production of this class of bodies. The main asphalt 
deposits of commerce are found about the southern and western 
shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 

The asphalt of Trinidad, which seems to be in constant process 
of formation, is derived from shales that belong to the later 
Tertiaries, and though derived from the most recent of all 
rocks that precede the present geological age, must still be 
separated from our time by a considerable interval. If, then, 
the formation of petroleum is made contemporaneous with the 
rock that contains it, it must be a geological contemporaneity 
that is meant, in which events that may be separated from each 
other by many thousands, or even tens of thousands of years, 
are counted contemporaneous. 

Why is it that shales are so constantly associated with the 
recent supplies of petroleum, while the older stocks are largely 
derived from sandstones? The difference between the two 
formations in this respect may in part be due to the fact that 
the shale seals up the vegetable matter more perfectly than 
the sandstone. In the more porous structure of the latter, 
ordinary decomposition would have a better chance to go on. 

But another fact, and one of very great importance in 
this connection, is the affinity of clay for oil of all sorts. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


55 


Illustrations of this affinity are familiar to every one, out an 
observation of Professor Joseph Leidy’s, made a number of 
years since, has special interest and value for us. He observed 
that on the bed of the Schuylkill river, for some distance below 
the Philadelphia gas-works, a deposit of clay impregnated with 
the petroleum-like oils that are produced in the manufacture of 
coal-gas was in process of formation. These oily substances, 
which would otherwise be found on the surface of the river, are 
absorbed by the particles of fine clay in the water and gradually 
sink to the bottom with them, there forming a petroliferous 
clay on the river bed. 

If petroleum, arising from such springs as occur in Central 
and South America, had found its way by rivers to lakes 
or seas, or had been liberated from sources beneath the sea, the 
same results would have followed. It would have been ab¬ 
sorbed by the fine particles of clay held in suspension in 
river and sea, as in the case described by Leidy, and the 
combined clay and oil would have been gradually carried 
downward to rest on the sea floor, a bituminous or oil-bearing 
shale. 

But if petroleum is a result of the primary decomposition of 
vegetable tissue, so long as vegetable matter remains undecom¬ 
posed in the rocks, and so long as the conditions of tempera¬ 
ture and pressure remain favorable, what is there to hinder 
these processes of petroleum formation from going forward? 
Why limit it to the time of rock formation ? 

It would seem, however, that in the vast periods that have 
elapsed since the Paleozoic era, there would have been time 
enough and to spare for all of these changes to be accom¬ 
plished, and that the process would be necessarily arrested, 
either for want of material or for lack of proper conditions. 

The essential point in Hunt’s theory of the origin of petro¬ 
leum is, not that it was produced contemporaneously with 
the rock, nor that it is especially a product of limestones, but 
that it results from the primary decomposition of organic 
substances. Discarding these incidental elements of the theory, 
and applying its central postulate to the explanation of the 
origin of the petroleum of Eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania 


56 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


we can see what some of the steps in the history must have 
been. 

The shales which constitute its chief source were accumulated 
in a tropical sea. The Devonian limestone, which immediately 
preceded them in time, bears witness to most genial conditions 
ot climate. Its massive corals required at least as high an 
annual temperature as is found in any part of the Gulf of 
Mexico to-day. 

The sedimentary deposits that were laid down on the floor 
of this Devonian sea consisted of clay and sand, with occa¬ 
sional gravel bars, the sources of which must be sought in the 
rising Atlantic border, or in the Canadian Highlands, as is 
proved by all the deposits thickening and growing coarser 
in those directions. To the western limit of this sea, along 
the shores of the emerging Cincinnati axis, only fine clay was 
borne, and this fine and homogeneous material accumulated 
very slowly, one foot requiring as much time as ten or twelve 
feet of the coarser and more varied series to the eastward. 

In these seas, as we know, there was a vast development 
of marine vegetation. Some plants of rhizocarpean affinities 
were especially abundant, and their resinous spores and spore 
cases, which constituted by far the most durable portions of the 
plants, were set free in enormous quantities. Even now, in 
some parts of the series, these spores constitute a notable per¬ 
centage of the shale. In structure and composition, they are 
but little changed from their original condition. Other por¬ 
tions of this and like vegetation may have been carried to the 
sea floor in a macerated condition, and have there passed 
through the coaly transformation resulting in the structureless 
carbonaceous matter that constantly characterizes the black 
shales. This carbonaceous substance can still be made to yield 
the members of the bitumen series through the agency of 
destructive distillation, and, doubtless, so also can the spores 
that remain unaltered in the shales, both leaving a carbon 
residue thereafter. 

The shales that were slowly accumulating on the floor of this 
tropical gulf, thus charged with vegetable remains, must have 
behaved as similar shales do around the borders of the present 
gulf. The vegetable matter was turned into petroleum as it is 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


57 


in Trinidad and the West Indies now. The petroleum would 
have been absorbed by the particles of clay in contact with 
which it was originated, or, if liberated in the water, it would 
there have been laid hold of by the like floating particles of 
clay, to be carried with them in due time to the sea floor, and 
the work w r ould have gone on until the material w r as exhausted 
or the requisite conditions were lost. 

The resulting stratum of bituminous shale would have been 
much more highly charged with petroleum than any portion of 
these shales is at the present time. Over it, at least throughout 
the eastern portion of its extent, a bed of sandstone is deposited, 
which in turn is roofed in by another fine-grained shale. The 
pores of the sandstone are occupied by sea w T ater, but, under 
certain conditions, a slow system of exchanges would be estab¬ 
lished between the rocks by which, at last, the petroleum would 
be gathered into its final reservoir. The presence of petroleum 
in considerable amount in a shale might give it a measure of 
permeability. 

Such would appear to be some of the steps in the production 
of petroleum if Hunt’s view of its origin by the primary 
decomposition of organic tissue is adopted. The result would 
correspond fairly w r ell with those of the spontaneous distilla- 
lation theory already discussed. Both would find the petro¬ 
leum distributed through the substance of the shales, and 
both would expect its constant escape from outcrops of 
producing shale or sandstone reservoir. Continuous origina¬ 
tion is by no means a necessary conclusion from continuous 
outflow. 

The advantage that the present theory has over others is, that 
it seems to find more support in the processes of nature at the 
present time. We find the bitumen series in actual process of 
formation in many parts of the world to-day, resulting appar¬ 
ently from the primary decomposition of organic matter under 
normal conditions. On the other hand, we do not find this 
series, in any cases which are open to observation and subject 
to measurement, resulting from secondary decomposition 
of carbonaceous matter contained in the rocks, unless the 
comparatively high temperatures of destructive distillation are 
reached. 


58 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

The several views as to the origin of petroleum that seem best 
to deserve attention have now been stated as fairly as possible. 
Some liberty has been taken with the last in the way of remov¬ 
ing limitations, but no new theory has been broached, and 

no real contribution to our knowledge of these very interesting 

« 

questions is claimed. In subjects which tempt speculation 
as much as those which are now under discussion, it is well to 
know the opinions that are most entitled to respect, even where 
grounds of positive knowledge are wanting. How little real 
knowledge we have of this subject has been made to appear in 
this brief review, and it is safe to conclude that, until the 
boundaries of our knowledge are considerably extended, every 
theory in regard to the origin of petroleum should be held 
as provisional only. We must not forget, however, that there 
is a substantial unanimity among all investigators of the pres¬ 
ent day as to the organic origin of petroleum. This vital point 
may be counted finally settled. The chemical theories will 
flourish mainly among the real estate speculators of new gas 
fields. 

The theoretical views that we hold as to the origin of petro¬ 
leum will influence our judgment also as to the duration of its 
supplies. The question is often asked, whether there is any 
provision in nature by which the supplies that are now drawn 
upon or exhausted can be renewed \ It is to be observed that 
of the several theories passed in review, only the discarded 
chemical hypotheses hold out any promise of a perennial 
supply. Of the three views from which most will feel obliged 
to take their choice, two answer the questions raised above em¬ 
phatically in the negative, and the remaining theory gives 
in reality no more encouragement. Newberry’s theory makes 
the process ol oil formation a continuous one, it is true, but it 
extends it through such vast cycles of time that 1,000 years 
or 10,000 years would not constitute an important factor. In 
other words, the reservoirs that we are now piercing with the 
drill, and that are yielding such vast and valuable stores of 
light and power, would in all probability have yielded the 
same supply 1,000 or 10,000 years ago. 

Practically, the stock is now complete, as much so as the con¬ 
tents of coal mines and mineral veins. As a result of our 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


59 


interference with natural conditions, small local movements 
of oil or gas may go on in the rocks, but these would be but 
insignificant exceptions to a general rule that the reservoirs hold 
all the oil and gas that they will ever hold, and that when 
once exhausted they will never be replenished. This ques¬ 
tion will be still further discussed under a succeeding head. 

Gas and oil have been considered together in all the preceding 
discussions, as if the history of one would cover the history 
of the other also. There are, however, speculations which 
dissociate them in origin. By some, gas is counted the first 
and original product, and it is supposed to be converted into 
petroleum in the sandstone reservoirs by some unknown process 
of condensation. 

This question, like those that have preceded it, does not 
admit of a final and definite answer at the present time, but the 
chemical probabilities do not seem to favor this view. Petro¬ 
leum is more composite and unstable than gas, and in these 
respects it seems to stand at less remove from the organic world 
than the latter. A large percentage of natural gas is light 
carburetted hydrogen or marsh gas, one of the simplest and 
most stable products of decomposition. Petroleum readily 
gives rise to marsh gas when subjected to destructive agencies, 
but we have no known experience in which the higher compound 
naturally results from synthesis of the lower. It seems, there¬ 
fore, safe to count petroleum first in the order of nature. 

A few words remain to be said under this head upon another 
subject. In the preceding discussions, shale and limestone 
have been considered the chief sources of petroleum, although, 
as is well known, sandstones are the direct source of the great 
supplies. There are some who hold that these supplies ori¬ 
ginate in the sandstones which now contain them. This view 
can be urged with plausibility, at least, for such sandstones as 
Lesley describes in eastern Kentucky, or as White finds the 
LeBoeuf sandstone to be ; but the Berea grit, which is the main 
oil sand of Ohio, and an important horizon also in western 
Pennsylvania, is singularly free in most of its outcrops from 
all traces of vegetation. The claim at the best has many weak 
points, as is well shown by Carl! (Penna. Geol. Survey, III, p. 
272). Speaking of the Venango sands, he says. 


60 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

“We find that the largest wells are those which are sunk 
through the coarsest part of the oil-bearing sand-rock. The 
drillings show nothing but coarse sand and pebbles. Pieces of 
the unpulverized rock, one or two cubic inches in bulk, are 
often brought up after torpedoing, but nothing can be detected 
in them that could possibly originate petroleum. Could a rock 
of this character have originally contained a quantity of organic 
matter sufficient to yield a cubic foot of oil to every ten or 
twelve cubic feet of rock, and these organic remains be so com¬ 
pletely converted into oil as to leave no residual trace of their 
existence % ’ ’ 

With these questions and suggestions, and many others in 
the same line, he shows the difficulties of this view. There 
is much less disposition in the most recent literature upon the 
subject to insist upon sandstones as original sources of petro¬ 
leum. 

In concluding this chapter, a few of the previously stated 
propositions in regard to the origin of petroleum that seem best 
supported, will be repeated in concise terms : 

1. Petroleum is derived from organic matter. 

2. Petroleum of the Pennsylvania type is derived from the 
organic matter of bituminous shales, and is probably of vege¬ 
table origin. 

3. Petroleum of the Canada type is derived from limestones, 
and is probably of animal origin. 

4. Petroleum has been produced at normal rock temperatures 
(in American fields), and is not a product of destructive distil¬ 
lation of bituminous shales. 

5. The stock of petroleum in the rocks is already practically 
complete. 

In the preceding pages, petroleum has been shown to be 
widely distributed in the rocks of the Mississippi Valley. The 
limestones and shales of the series, in particular, everywhere 
contain it. Dr. T. S. Hunt has made a calculation showing the 
amount of petroleum which the oil-bearing dolomite of Chicago 
holds to the square mile for every foot in thickness of the 
stratum. (Essays, p. 173.) If we apply a like calculation to 
the rocks of the Kentucky scale, we shall find the total amount 
of oil enormously large. We may take, for example, the Sub- 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY 


61 


carboniferous limestone, which is, in some of its phases, notably 
petroliferous. Estimating its petroleum content at one-tenth 
of one per cent., and the thickness of the stratum at 500 feet, 
both of which figures are probably within the limits, we find the 
petroleum contained in it to be more than 2,500,000 barrels to 
the square mile. The total production of the great oil fields of 
Pennsylvania and New York is, as has already been shown, 
about 300,000,000 barrels. It would require only 125 square 
miles to duplicate this enormous stock from the Subcarbonifer- 
ous limestone alone. But if the rate of one-tenth of one per 
cent, should be maintained through a descent of 1,500 feet at 
any point in the State, each square mile would, in that case, 
yield 7,500,000 barrels, or one-fortieth of the total product of the 
entire oil field. These figures pass at once beyond clear com¬ 
prehension, but they serve to give us some idea of the vast 
stock of petroleum contained in the earth’s crust. If petroleum 
is generally distributed through a considerable series of rocks 
in any appreciable percentage, it is easy to see that the aggre¬ 
gate amount must be immense. Even 1-1000 of 1 per cent, would 
yield 75,000 barrels to the square mile in a series of rocks 1,500 
feet deep; but this amount is nearly one-tenth of the greatest 
actual production per square mile of any of the leading Penn¬ 
sylvania fields. 

It is obvious that the total amount of petroleum in the rocks 
underlying the surface of Kentucky is large beyond computa- 
tation, but in its diffused and distributed state it is entirely 
without value. 

GEOL. SUR.—5 


REPOKT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


62 


CHAPTER IV. 


GEOLOGY OF PETROLEUM. 


In the preceding chapter the leading facts and theories as 
to the origin of petroleum have been given. Its well-nigh 
universal dissemination among the various classes of stratified 
rocks has been described, and it has also been pointed out 
that as long as it exists merely in this disseminated state, it 
has no economic value. 

There are two groups of questions connected with what may 
be called the geology of petroleum. 

Under what conditions do the valuable accumulations of 
petroleum, and the inflammable gas that invariably accom¬ 
panies it, take place? In what kinds of rocks are these sub¬ 
stances stored ? What determines the storage in one part of a 
stratum rather than another ? What determines the occasional 
accumulations of gas in large volume in the rocks without the 
presence of oil? What relation does the salt water, tnat is 
almost always present in an oil and gas rock, hold to these 
substances? What originates the pressure, under which oil 
and gas are delivered, when their reservoirs are penetrated 
by the drill ? In other words, what are the laws of oil and gas 
production ? The question of the duration of the supplies will 
also be found closely connected with some of those above stated. 

The second group of questions that needs to be answered in 
this connection pertains to the recognition of the probable 
existence of oil and gas in advance of the drill. The list em¬ 
braces questions like the following : What are the most reliable 
indications of the presence of oil and gas in the rocks ? How 
far can geology aid us in the search for these substances ? 
What is the significance of the so-called “surface indications ?” 

These groups of questions will be taken up in the order in 
which they have here been introduced. 




AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


6a 


I. The Laws of the Accumulation of Petroleum and 

Gas. 

As in most forms of mineral wealth, concentration is an 
essential feature in the production of valuable stores of petro¬ 
leum. It has been already shown that petroleum is present in 
most of the rocks of our shale in quantities large enough to 
meet the most extravagant demand, but it still remains true 
that the really valuable reservoirs of it are few and far between. 

Our first group of questions is connected with the geological 
conditions that lead to these valuable accumulations. It may 
be remarked in passing, that the same, or at least similar condi¬ 
tions, are to be found in every field. 

1. The Reservoir. 

It is obvious that if the storage of petroleum is to be effected 
on a large scale, there must first of all, at least after a source is 
provided, be a rock that can serve as a reservoir. How do our 
ordinary stratified rocks become reservoirs of petroleum and 
gas' It can be answered that a stratum may serve this purpose 
if it is cavernous in structure; the caves resulting either from 
the solution of the rock throughout more or less extensive 
spaces, or, more rarely, from the underground movements of 
the rock masses. 

Again, the stratum may simply be a porous rock, its porosity 
resulting from the character of the separate grains that com¬ 
pose it, if a fragmental rock, as sandstone, or from the solution 
and removal of small portions of the rock-mass through 
ordinary agencies of change, if a limestone. 

In the last named class, only limestones are found ; and, at 
first sight, it might seem as if the case were the same as the 
cavernous structure above named, for limestone rocks are also 
those in which cave formation appears. But there are, after 
all, marked distinctions between the two cases. The action in 
the formation of caverns is on the masses of the limestone rock. 
In the other case, it is purely interstitial. 

Caves in limestone rocks have been named as furnishing 
possible storage capacity for oil and gas. The belief that they 
do so is a quite widespread popular belief in the few districts 


64 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


wliere gas and oil are obtained from rocks of this class. But 
there is not a single case on record in which large storage has 
been traced to any such structure, and there is in reality no 
more probability that the storage of oil-bearing limestones is 
due to such structure than there is that the capacity of sand¬ 
stone can be thus explained. This point will be further dis¬ 
cussed under a subsequent head. 

For all the facts of oil and gas storage, the porosity of the 
rocks is abundantly able to account not only in sandstone, but 
in limestone as well, and no other explanation, therefore, will 
be invoked in these pages. 

In the early history of petroleum in the Pennsylvania field, 
a notion found access to the minds of many of the operators 
at that time to the effect that the facts of production could only 
be explained by the existence of “crevices” in the rocks, and 
this assumed fact took for a time a prominent place in all 
theories concerning production. A “crevice-searcher” was 
invented by some ingenious driller, which, when lowered into a 
well, would reveal the exact location of any irregularity in a 
well wall, all of which irregularities were assumed to be crev¬ 
ices. With widening experience, however, and especially with 
a more careful study of the facts by those whose training has 
fitted them to form just conclusions from the observations, the 
whole doctrine of crevices has dropped out of sight. If it sur¬ 
vives at all at the present day, it is only among the least 
intelligent persons connected with the work of drilling. 

a. Sandstones as Reservoirs. 

The drillers in Venango county, Pennsylvania, in 1859, were 
not long in learning the facts as to the composition and order of 
arrangement of the series from which petroleum was obtained. 
Beginning in the valley of Oil Creek, it was found that the 
drill first descended through several hundred feet of soft and 
fine-grained shales, after which a series of sandstones, imbedded 
in shale, was passed through. 

These sandstones were three in number when the series was 
complete, and from the upper surface of the uppermost member 
to the bottom of the lowest, the interval was about 350 feet. It 
was at once learned that the petroleum, for which the drilling 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


65 


was undertaken, was confined to these sandstones, which, 
accordingly, took the name of “oil sands.” They were named 
in order from above, the first, second and third oil sands. 
When all three were found in the well section, the oil was con¬ 
fined to the third or lowermost, but gas was sometimes found in 
the second, or even in the first. When the third oil sand was 
wanting, the second became the receptacle of the oil and gas, 
and when both the second and third were wanting, the stock 
was found in the first. The important fact thus came to light 
that the first sandstone to be reached in ascending order from 
the bottom of the series was the oil-containing stratum. The 
rocks below the oil sands were found at a somewhat later period 
to be gray or dark shales. 

The Venango “ oil sands” proved to be sandstones of medium 
or coarse grain, or even, in some cases, conglomerates. The 
third or lowermost sand, in particular, often assumed this phase, 
containing quartz pebbles in abundance. These sandstones 
were considered, in the course of the development of the field, to 
be elongated bars of sand or pebbles, their longer axes extend¬ 
ing in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction. The 
productive fields were found to extend in length for a score or 
more miles in some cases, while their width would be confined 
to one or two miles. In thickness, the oil sands ranged from a 
shell to 100 feet. Some of them are described as having no 
outcrop, never rising to-day in their own characters. Under 
the interpretation of the oil sands given above, which is sub¬ 
stantially that of Carll, these oil-containing reservoirs are seen 
to be lenticular in transverse section. It is in any case certain 
that the productive belts showed the relations named above, and 
further, that production was related in a very definite way to 
the grain and thickness of the oil sands. The coarser the sand 
and the more open, the greater the amount of oil, and in like 
manner the thicker the stratum, the larger was its production 
likely to be, other things being equal. 

It must be noted, however, that all of the facts presented by 
such a field can be explained without supposing the oil rocks 
to be ancient sand-bars or submarine gravel ridges. Sandstone 
strata with an ordinary measure of continuity could present just 
such phenomena as we are called on to explain, under certain 

GEOL. SUR.— 5 . 


66 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


accidents of structure or arrangement. In fact, the sand-bar 
theory is not only unproved but it is unnecessary. Several of 
the most famous oil sandstones of Pennsylvania and Ohio, so 
far from being lenticular in character, are now known to be 
wonderfully persistent, though varying in thickness and grain 
from point to point, and occasionally nearly disappearing for 
short spaces. 

The first drillers in Venango county took possession of the 
valleys, counting the production of oil to be confined to them; 
but later comers began to try fortune on the slopes adjacent, 
and little by little the drilling rigs overran highlands as well as 
valleys, the fact being soon made apparent that the only neces¬ 
sary advantage possessed in the valleys was the shorter distance 
to be drilled to reach the oil-sand. 

The wells drilled on the uplands revealed the presence of 
other sandstone strata, lying many hundred feet above the oil- 
sands. To these new strata the name of “mountain sands” 
was given, and three of these also were enumerated, viz.: the 
first, second and third mountain sands. Petroleum and gas 
were sometimes found in these strata to a small extent. 

The order that was thus ascertained to exist among the dif¬ 
ferent strata penetrated by the drill in the valley of Oil Creek 
at the beginning of petroleum production, on the large scale, in 
this country, has proved to be the universal order, so far as the 
oil and gas fields of Pennsylvania, New York and Eastern Ohio 
are concerned. In all of these fields, without important excep¬ 
tion, sandstones buried in shales have proved to be the reser¬ 
voirs of oil and gas, when the latter are found in large quantity. 
The overlying shale is the cover or roof of the reservoir; the 
underlying shale appears to be the source from which the bitu¬ 
minous products are derived. We can count on this as the 
established and essential order for oil and gas accumulation in 
the territory already named. Several distinct beds of oil-pro¬ 
ducing sands have been brought to light besides the Venango, 
the most important of which are the Warren and Bradford 
sands, both of which underlie the Venango system. 

From facts like these, it is apparent that the composition and 
order of arrangement of a series of strata have a vitally im¬ 
portant relation to the accumulation of oil and gas that may 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


67 


take place within it. Some geologists count the composition of 
the series the main element in oil production. They regard 
especially the grain and thickness of the oil-sand or reservoir, 
accounting largely for the difference in production of different 
fields, or of different parts of the same held, by the character of 
the oil-sand. The practical driller also makes great account of 
these facts. 

Mr. John F. Carll, -of the Second Pennsylvania Survey, has 
discussed these questions at length in his invaluable reports on 
the petroleum fields of Western Pennsylvania. He claims that 
an oil-bearing pebble rock may contain, under favorable condi¬ 
tions, one-tenth, or even one-eiglitli of its bulk in oil, basing his 
claim upon the indications of experiments made upon the rock. 
(Second Pennsylvania Survey, I, 251.) He also shows that the 
pores of the sandstone would serve as channels for the largest 
supplies of oil that have yet been found, and that we are under 
no necessity of resorting to hypothetical “ crevices” to account 
for any of the facts pertaining to the yield of oil-wells. 

b. Limestones as Reservoirs. 

In the experience of the great oil fields of Pennsylvania, New 
York and West Virginia, the reservoir rocks have been found, 
without a single exception, to be sandstones of one or another 
grade. The rock sometimes passes the limits of this name, 
perhaps, as ordinarily applied, becoming on one side a con¬ 
glomerate, or on the other a sandy shale ; but sand, coarse or 
fine, is the essential element in its composition. Whenever oil 
and gas have been found, therefore, in new locations, or in new 
positions in the strata within these districts, the first question 
to be asked is in regard to the oil sand or the gas sand, as the 
case may be, its name and place in the general scale, its grain, 
its thickness, and its extent. 

This unbroken experience naturally led the drillers of the 
main fields to the unquestioned conclusions that oil and gas 
rocks were always and everywhere sand-rocks. If this conclu¬ 
sion was not distinctly formulated, it was because it was 
counted so nearly an axiom that it would go without saying. 

When, then, at Findlay, Ohio, in November, 1884, drillers 


68 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

from Bradford, Pennsylvania, struck high pressure gas in large 
volume at a depth of eleven hundred feet, the rock in which it 
was found was unhesitatingly pronounced a gas sand. Its crys¬ 
talline grain matched well enough in appearance to this view, but 
chemical analysis failed to sustain it, and the surprising fact 
was presently discovered that the rock was in no sense a sand- 
rock, but the gas was derived from a dolomitic or magnesian 
limestone of exceptional purity, so far as the best examples of 
it were concerned. 

It was a year or more before the full significance of this dis¬ 
covery was recognized. But at last the facts were brought out, 
and the following state of things was established: The Trenton 
limestone is, in the main, a fairly homogeneous rock, composed 
of 80 to 90 per cent, of carbonate of lime, but for considerable 
areas in Northwestern Ohio, Michigan, Northern Indiana, 
Illinois and Wisconsin, its uppermost beds for five to one 
hundred and fifty feet have been metamorphosed. At some time 
in its history, the carbonate of lime has been replaced by 
the double carbonate of lime and magnesia. It is probable that 
the rock which has been thus replaced was an exceptionally 
pure carbonate of lime. At any rate, small portions of un¬ 
changed rock are found in the cap of the Trenton having such a 
composition. The porosity of the Trenton results from this re¬ 
placement. The dolomite is highly crystalline, and its crystals 
interlocking imperfectly, leave vacant spaces between them. 
This is shown in the microscopic section of the gas rock, highly 
magnified for this purpose. The vacant spaces of this rock 
are seen to be much more conspicuous, and probably, on the 
whole, much larger than the spaces between the grains of any 
sandstone. The facts of the present development of the fields 
agree well with these conclusions. Foot for foot, the Trenton 
limestone has probably greater capacity of storage, and thus 
of production, than the best of the Pennsylvania oil-sands. 

It is important to note that this replacement of the upper¬ 
most beds of the Trenton limestone is by no means a universal 
phenomenon. It is, on the other hand, decidedly local and ex¬ 
ceptional, although the limits of the change as stated are quite 
wide. The failure of the Trenton limestone to respond to the 
drill in Southern Ohio, Southern Indiana and Kentucky, where 



MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURE OF THE TRENTON 



d 

LIMESTONE. 


EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVFY. 






/ 


if 


4 


«# 





AND ASPHALT ROOK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


09 


other conditions seem favorable, is plainly due to the want of 
porosity in the upper beds of this great stratum. In other 
words, its failure results from its physical state, and this 
in turn is based upon its chemical composition. 

There are other cases beside that already named in which oil 
and gas are found to be derived from dolomitic limestone, but 
thus far the Trenton limestone easily stands at the head of these 
sources of oil. It is by no means certain, however, that the oil 
production of limestones is altogether limited to those that have 
undergone the dolomitic metamorphosis. Crinoidal limestone, 
made up of broken stems and plates of stone lilies, may easily 
be porous enough to act as a reservoir, but no conspicuous 
examples of this sort have thus far been reported. • 

c. Shales as Reservoirs . 

There is a third group of rocks that sometimes acts the part 
of oil and gas reservoirs, namely, shales. The best, and in fact 
the only example of large production from shale, is found in the 
new Meade county field of Western Kentucky. A somewhat 
exceptional structure is to be inferred for the shale of this field, 
from the very fact above noted, namely, that there is but one 
example of the sort known. It is true that shales have long 
been recognized as sources of weak flows of gas and oil. Along 
the extensive northern and western outcrops of the great Ohio 
shale through Western New York, Ohio, Kentucky and Ten¬ 
nessee, oil and gas springs are everywhere found, but the 
supplies are invariably small in quantity, and there are no indi¬ 
cations of storage on the large scale such as would justify the 
application of the term te reservoirs” to the formation. In 
Northern Kentucky, however, the sole representative of the 
great Ohio shale is a mass of black shale, commonly called 
slate, from 30 to 90 feet in thickness, which, when found 
at a depth of 300 to 500 feet, and possibly at much greater 
depth, shows all the characteristics of the reservoir rocks. 
Its storage must, however, depend on the open joints of the 
stratum rather than on its porosity ir* any strict use of this 
word. 

Shale is a rock in which the joint structure is displayed to 


70 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

exceptional advantage as a general rule. The black shale of 
the Kentucky series here referred to certainly furnishes an ex¬ 
cellent example. 

A few words remain to be said as to the extent, permeability 
and total production of the strata that serve as reservoirs. 

Extent of the Reservoirs. 

As to the first point, namely, the extent of reservoirs, it 
is obvious, if the account already given of them is correct, 
strata having a wide distribution, occupying not only many 
hundreds, but many thousands and tens of thousands of square 
miles, answer this purpose and deserve this name. But are 
they reservoirs throughout their entire extent ? They are by 
no means reservoirs of oil and gas, but their failure to serve 
this purpose does not rise from any change in the composition 
or character of the strata. In point of fact, the gas and oil 
occupy only insignificant portions of the whole extent of this 
porous rock, all of the remainder being charged with water, and 
generally with salt water. Bituminous reservoirs, for reasons 
that will presently be explained, are limited to the summits of 
low anticlinal folds, or broad terrace-like uplifts that answer the 
same purpose as anticlines. 

Permeability of the Reservoirs. 

The fact that different portions of the oil-sands communicate 
with each other with more or less freedom was early established 
in the history of oil production in Pennsylvania. Adjacent 
wells were often found to affect each other’s yield, and the 
locations of wells at once began to be made in consonance with 
this view. Wells were especially multiplied along boundary 
lines, under the selfish purpose of obtaining oil from the lands 
of others and in the attempt to protect rights of ownership 
against such unjust invasions. 

The descent of surface water into the oil-sands, through 
abandoned wells, proved disastrous to entire fields, and it 
became necessary to invoke stringent legislation to guard 
against this source of danger by requiring wells to be securely 
plugged before being abandoned. In these various ways it 
came to be seen that there was a fairly free communication 
through the oil-sands, at least in some cases, for intervals of one 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


71 


or more miles. So, also, in thick and gently dipping strata, like 
the Bradford oil sand, the division of the rock into gas, oil and 
salt water territories, respectively, the gas holding the highest 
and the salt water the lowest levels, made the conclusion well- 
nigh irresistible that the entire rock is permeable, and that, in 
the course of ages, its various contents have been differentiated 
as we now find them, under the influence of gravitation. 

But, on the other hand, it became equally clear that there was 
no necessary and absolute connection between different portions 
of an oil-sand, but that in many instances this stratum exists in 
lenticular masses, the several divisions of which may be nearly 
or even entirely disconnected. This conclusion is based on facts 
like these, viz : that contiguous wells often show no connection 
with each other, and that in what are supposed to be exhausted 
oil fields, small pockets of sand are sometimes subsequently 
discovered that furnish considerable supplies of oil. The rapid 
changes in thickness of the oil-sand in adjacent wells furnishes 
conclusive proof upon this point. We can follow the stratum 
down to a featlier-edge by these records. 

As to the degrees of permeability which characterize the rock 
in question, it is thus seen there are wide variations. The same 
stratum may differ greatly in different portions of its extent. 
The subject is of great practical importance. The number 
of acres to be assigned to a single gas well or oil well, in a wise 
and economical administration of a field, depends altogether 
upon this factor; but the qualification above made asks more 
than can be rendered. There is no wise and economical admin¬ 
istration of a gas field or oil field. The nearest approach to 
such a thing thus far made is found in the working of the great 
corporation that obtains control of gas land or oil land in solid 
blocks of large extent. The experience of these corporations is, 
however, of comparatively recent date, and but little of it has 
been made public as yet. In many fields, it is certain that the 
number of wells required to drain the rocks is not only dupli¬ 
cated, but in all probability is multiplied many times. In some 
fields, five acres are counted a fair allowance for a well; in 
others fifty would better meet the facts ; and in still others 
a single well will doubtless drain a still larger area if time 
enough is granted to it. 


72 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


Total Production of the Oil Rocks . 

Under this head also there is a great dearth of facts. The 
only figures that command consideration are those derived from 
some portions of the Pennsylvania field. Mr. Charles A. Asli- 
burner, of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, has calculated 
that a total production of 900,000 barrels of oil to the square 
mile has been realized from very limited areas in the best parts 
of the Pennsylvania fields. 

II. The Cover of the Reservoir. 

The three kinds of stratified rocks to which, so far as present 
experience goes, the large accumulations of oil and gas are 
limited, have now been passed in brief review. They are as 
follows : First, sandstones of various grades as to grain and 
purity; second, limestones generally dolomitic in composition; 
third, shales which owe all the storage capacity that they may 
possess to their jointing. 

A factor in the large production of oil and gas that is common 
to all these reservoir rocks, must next be mentioned, namely, 
the cover or roof of the porous stratum. It is obvious that 
reservoir rocks must have more or less impervious roofs to 
retain their contents. The same upward tendency of oil and 
gas, by which the porous rock has itself been charged from 
lower sources, would empty it in due time, unless the ascent 
of its contents were prevented by a stratum that forbids their 
passage. The most common, and, at the same time, most per¬ 
fect cover of an oil rock, is a stratum of fine-grained shale. 
This order was discovered in the drilling of the first wells in the 
Oil Creek field of Pennsylvania, as shown on a preceding page, 
in which the three sandstones that were found to be possible 
sources of oil are buried in a mass of fine-grained blue shale, 
incorrectly termed soapstone by the driller. 

So common is the occurrence of petroleum in stratified rocks, 
that wherever a close-grained shale occurs, there is almost 
always at least a small accumulation of oil directly underneath 
it. The same thing occurs when an impervious stratum of any 
other composition than shale occurs in the series. From such 


4ND ASPHALT ROCK IN' WESTERN KENTUCKY. 73 

facts, it may almost seem that the proper cover of an oil and gas 
rock is harder to find in nature than an adequate source of gas 
and oil. 

That these investing rocks are not entirely impervious is 
evident from the fact that oil and gas find their way through 
them to the surface. These escapes are often facilitated by 
breaks in the continuity of the stratum resulting from fiexures. 
When the rocks of any series have been flexed to the breaking 
point, it seems useless to look for oil and gas within them. No 
valuable accumulations have been reported under such circum¬ 
stances, unless the California field may prove an exception. 
The details of the structure here, however, have not been given 
fully and clearly enough to warrant important inferences from 
this field alone. The entire absence of oil and gas from Central 
and Eastern Pennsylvania and adjacent territory seems well 
enough explained by the broken structure of the strata. Easy 
ways of escape have been abundantly provided for all the bitu¬ 
minous accumulations that may have been gathered here. 

III. The Structure or Arrangement of Oil-bearing 

Rocks. 

If an adequate source of petroleum is found in the deep-lying 
rocks of any district, as, for example, in the great series of 
shales of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky, and if overlying 
this series, one or more porous strata are found, as, for example, 
the Berea grit of Western Pennsylvania and Northern Ohio, 
and if this porous stratum is in turn roofed over by a heavy bed 
of fine-grained and fairly impervious shale, as, for example, the 
Berea and Cuyahoga shales of the district last named, will 
valuable accumulations of oil and gas, or both, certainly be 
found throughout the porous stratum ? The conditions of accu¬ 
mulation thus far insisted upon appear to have been met. 
There are source, reservoir and cover, all in due order, and, 
according to the supposition, in proper state for the offices 
respectively assigned to them. 

The question is easily answered. The rock series already 
named meets all the demands thus far announced over many 
thousand square miles, but the areas of oil and gas territory 


74 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

cannot even be counted within these limits by tens of square 
miles. Oil and gas would lose all their market value by reason 
of their abundance if the above stated question could be 
answered in the affirmative. While the order above named is 
insisted upon by nature, this is not all that she demands. 
What additional requirements must be made to constitute an 
oil or gas field? The question is an important one. The 
answers to it deserve to be carefully noted. To the facts 
already named, a particular structure or arrangement of the 
rocks must be added. The reason why oil and gas territory is 
so rarely met, and therefore so valuable when it is found, is 
because the last of these conditions occurs in so few instances. 
The primary conditions of source, reservoir and cover are coex¬ 
tensive with entire districts, but the accessory condition of 
favorable structure is limited to very small and definite areas. 

To understand the nature of the last element, a brief review 
of the conditions under which the strata have reached their 
present state and arrangement is necessary. The strata of 
which Kentucky is built up were all successively deposited on 
the sea floor. The sea floor can be safely assumed to have been 
approximately level at the time of this deposit. For, if any 
depressions or irregularities at any time existed, the first work 
of nature would be to obliterate them by filling these depres¬ 
sions and smoothing over the irregularities. We see that work 
like this must be going on upon the sea floors at the present 
time. But the strata that constitute the state are no longer 
horizontal. They are bent and warped in various ways. If 
originally deposited in a horizontal plane, how have they ac¬ 
quired their present dispositions? 

It must be remembered that all of these strata go back for 
their origin to the paleozoic age, and that periods of time, 
vast beyond conception, have passed since they were laid 
down upon the ancient sea floor. But the earth, we know, 
is a cooling, and therefore a contracting globe. It is to the 
shrinkage or contraction in size from its volume when these 
strata were formed that all the folds and irregularities of its 
beds are due. 

This shrinkage has often taken place with a considerable 
measure of regularity, as is seen in the parallel folds of a 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


75 


mountain system like the Appalachians, for example, occupying 
hundreds of thousands of square miles in extent, and built up 
on a symmetrical plan. In other cases, however, there are 
single breaks or lines of disturbance limited to comparatively 
small districts. 

Both of these cases occur in Kentucky. The eastern ex 
tremity of the State has been invaded by the long ridges of 
the Appalachian chain. In Central and Western Kentucky, on 
the other hand, there are small and isolated regions of dis¬ 
turbance sometimes marked by the dislocation of strata. 

In addition to both these main and striking forms of move¬ 
ment, there is a more important class than either, because more 
widespread, revealed in the very slow and uniform descent in 
a given direction of the strata for large areas. The fall of the 
rocks may be but a few feet to the mile, entirely too small to be 
measured by instruments when applied to any single section, 
and susceptible of determination only when widely separated 
outcrops are considered. This peculiar structure is charac¬ 
teristic of large areas of the Mississippi Valley. It is undoubt 
edly due to the slow and long-continued rise of the sea floor in 
an extended axis or ridge while the strata were in process of 
deposition. This last feature distinguishes it from the moun¬ 
tain folds. The latter were formed by bending into arches 
strata that had already been completed. 

But even these regions of uniform and gradual dip are 
occasionally crossed by slight irregularities of their own, 
which become of great interest in connection with oil and 
gas accumulations. 

a. Anticlines or Arches . 

There are two forms of structure that have been found con 
nected in a very influential way with the storing of gas and 
oil, namely, anticlines and terraces. The anticline or arch is 
the most frequent, and, at the same time, the simplest form 
of rock disturbance. The strata of a particular section are 
required by the secular contraction of the earth to adjust them¬ 
selves to a shorter horizontal extension than they have hereto* 
fore had. They do so by an exchange of horizontal for vertical 
extension. The strata that constitute the section, together 
with the foundations on which they rest to a great depth, are 


76 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

flexed into an arch or into a series of parallel arches, the height 
of which depends on the amount of contraction for which pro 
vision must be made. The arches are often broken at the top. 
in which case they apparently lose all value in this connection, 
through the escape of these hydrocarbons; but, in other cases, 
the rise and fall of the strata are so gentle that the continuity 
of the beds remains unbroken. The porous rocks already de¬ 
scribed, as the reservoirs of gas and oil, share necessarily in 
all these movements, and, as they are lifted into arches, a dif¬ 
ferentiation of their contents necessarily follows, the gas, of 
course, claiming the highest chambers of the rock, the oil suc¬ 
ceeding it, while the troughs are filled with water. 

The influence of anticlines on the accumulation of petroleum 
and gas has been discussed ever since the discovery of these 
substances in this country on the large scale. Definite theories 
as to the influence of such disturbances as have occurred in the 
oil-producing territory were early propounded, some of which 
have been maintained to the present day. 

The “oil-break” of West Virginia, in the neighborhood of 
Burning Springs, furnished, in the early days of the search for 
petroleum, an example of the effect of structural disturbance on 
oil production that he who runs might read. There is an 
uplift there at once considerable and conspicuous, viz: the 
White Oak anticlinal, and the productive oil wells, out of the 
great number of wells which were drilled in this region, were 
found to be strictly confined to the region of the anticline or 
axis. These facts were brought out in a very clear manner by 
the late Professor E. B. Andrews, in a paper published in the 
American Journal of Science (2, XLIII, 33). The discovery of 
the axis in its relation to oil production seems to have been 
made by General A. J. Warner, in connection with Professor 
Andrews, in 1865. Beyond the structural disturbance shown in 
the anticlinal, Professor Andrews also claimed the existence of 
crevices or fissures on the large scale in the rocks from which 
the oil was derived. To effect the separation of water, oil and 
gas in the supposed crevices, he invoked the force of gravitation, 
showing that these substances would necessarily be arranged in 
the order of their densities in any space which they should 
occupy in common. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


77 


The clue that was thus given as to the location of successful 
wells was, of course, promptly followed. The anticline was 
traced throughout its entire extent, and test wells were put 
<lown at numerous points, but of these a large percentage 
failed. To account, if possible, for these failures, Mr. F. W. 
Minshall, of Parkersburg, West Virginia, undertook at a later 
date a careful determination of the levels of the axis. He found 
that instead of either keeping a horizontal plane, or of dipping 
regularly and uniformly, it advanced by a series of pronounced 
undulations, having domes or summits at some points, and 
sinks or sags at others. All of the productive oil and gas wells 
had been located on the domes, and the failures were to be 
found in the depressions. (10th Census Reports, X.) 

Dr. T. S. Hunt, at a still earlier date, viz : in 1863, main¬ 
tained that the petroleum supply of Western Ontario was all 
derived from the line of a low and broad anticline, which runs 
through the district in a nearly east and west direction. He 
distinctly taught that the anticlinal structure is a necessary 
condition for a large production of petroleum, referring its 
accumulation in such portions of the series to hydrostatic 
laws. (American Journal of Science, March, 1863.) 

Dr. Newberry seems also to accept the anticlinal theory, 
though his statements on this point are less explicit than 
those already quoted. In speaking of the Canada oil-field, he 
says: 

“ This district is in the line of the Cincinnati arch, which 
here, as in the islands of Lake Erie, shows evidences of disturb¬ 
ance long subsequent to its original upheaval.” 

In speaking of the Pennsylvania oil-fields, he says : 

‘‘These strata have all felt the disturbing influence of the 
forces which raised the Allegheny mountains. Here, then, we 
have a peculiar geological substructure, such as is especially 
favorable to the production and accumulation of petroleum, 
and such as must be, more or less, perfectly paralleled else¬ 
where to make productive or, at least, flowing wells possible. 
This structure consists in a great mass of carbonaceous strata 
below, more or less disturbed and loosened, from which oil 
is supplied in a constant and relatively copious flow; above 


78 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

this, strata of porous, jointed sandstone, serving as reservoirs, 
where the constant product of oil and gas may accumulate for 
ages; still higher, argillaceous strata, impervious in their 
texture and not capable of being opened by fissures, form¬ 
ing a tight cover which prevents their escape.” (Geology 
of Ohio, I, 159.) 

Elsewhere, he says: 

“The facts I have observed lead me to conclude that the dis¬ 
turbed condition of the strata in certain districts east of 
Ohio is the cause of the phenomena which they present. 
Where the oil and gas-producing rocks, and those overlying 
them are solid and compact, * * * the escape of the re¬ 
sulting hydrocarbons is almost impossible. Where they are 
more or less shaken up, * * * reservoirs are opened up 
to receive the oil and gas, and fissures are produced which 
serve for their escape to the surface. Near the Alleghenies, 
all the rocky strata are more or less disturbed, and here, 
along certain lines, the liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons are 
evolved in enormous quantities. As we come westward, we 
find the rocks more undisturbed, and the escape of oil and 
gas, through natural or artificial orifices, gradually dimin¬ 
ished.” (Ibid, 183.) 

This reasoning, as will be seen, is in harmony with the 
anticlinal theory. Prom the statements already quoted, it is 
shown that distinct theories and claims have been advanced 
during the last twenty years, connecting the accumulation 
of oil and gas with anticlinal structure. 

Within the last few years, since natural gas has attained 
such prominence in Pittsburgh, its sources and the conditions 
of its occurrence have been studied anew with sharpened 
inspection, by both geologists and practical men, and some 
real advance seems to have been made in our search for it. 
The anticlinal theory has been revived and extended, and has 
been used successfully in the location of many productive 
wells. For the new statement, we are indebted to Professor 
I. C. White, of the University of West Virginia, and recently 
of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Professor White, in 
turn, gives credit to Mr. W. A. Earseman, an oil operator of 


AND ASPHALT HOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


79‘ 


many years’ experience, who had noticed in 1882-3, “that the 
principal gas wells then known in Western Pennsylvania 
were situated close to where anticlinal axes were drawn on 
the geological maps. From this he inferred there must be 
some connection between the gas wells and the anticlinals.” 

Professor White goes on to say : 

“ After visiting all the great gas wells that had been struck 
in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and carefully 
examining the geological surroundings of each, I found that 
every one of them was situated either directly on or near 
the crown of an anticlinal axis, while wells that had been 
bored in the synclines on either side furnished little or no gas, 
but in many cases large quantities of salt water. Further 
observation showed that the gas wells were confined to a 
narrow belt, only one-fourth to one mile wide, along the 
crests of the anticlinal folds. These facts seem to connect gas 
territory unmistakably with the disturbance in the rocks 
caused by their upheaval into arches, but the crucial test 
was yet to be made in the actual location of good gas terri¬ 
tory on this theory. During the last two years, I have 
submitted it to all manner of tests, both in location and 
comdemning gas territory, and the general result has been 
to confirm the anticlinal theory beyond a reasonable doubt. 

“But while we can state with confidence that all great gas 
wells are found on the anticlinal axes, the converse of this 
is not true, viz.: that great gas wells may be found on all 
anticlinals. In a theory of this kind, the limitations become 
quite as important as, or even more so, than the theory itself; 
and hence, I have given considerable thought to this side 
of the question, having formulated three or four general 
rules, which include practically all the limitations known 
to me up to the present time, that should be placed on the 
statement that large gas wells may be obtained on anticlinal 
folds, viz: 

“(a) The arch in the rocks must be one of considerable 
magnitude, (b) A coarse or porous sandstone of considerable 
thickness, or, if a fine-grained rock, one that would have 
extensive fissures, and thus, in either case, rendered capable 


80 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

of acting as a reservoir for the gas, must underlie the surface 
at a depth of several hundred feet (500 to 2,500 feet). Proba¬ 
bly very few or none of the grand arches along mountain 
ranges will be found holding gas in large quantity, since in 
such cases the disturbance of the stratification has been so 
profound that all the natural gas generated in the past would 
long ago have escaped into the air through fissures that 
traverse all the beds. Another limitation might possibly be 
added, which would confine the area where great gas flows may 
be obtained to those underlaid by a considerable thickness 
of bituminous shale. 

“ Very fair gas wells may also be obtained for a considerable 
distance down the slope from the crest of the anticlines, 
provided the dip be sufficiently rapid, and especially if it be 
irregular or interrupted with slight crumples. And even in 
regions where there are no marked anticlines, if the dip be 
somewhat rapid and irregular, rather large gas wells may 
occasionally be found if all other conditions are favorable.” 
(Science, June 26, 1885.) 

To the qualifications already made, Professor White would 
probably add, at this time, one to the effect that gas wells 
shall be located on the domes of the axis, rather than its 
depressions, recognizing the same line of facts in regard to 
them that Minsliall had already established in the case of 
the White Oak anticlinal of Ohio and West Virginia, to which 
reference has previously been made. 

The facts cited by Professor White as to the gas supply 
of Pittsburg are conclusive. Every foot of it comes from 
anticlines, but not from them because it has been sought 
nowhere else, but because, if found in other stations, it is 
speedily overcome and extinguished by salt water. Where 
anticlines of the type here referred to traverse an oil-bearing 
series, it may be considered demonstrated that they exert 
a decided effect on the accumulations of oil and gas in this 
series. So rational is such a conclusion, so directly does it 
result from the facts already stated, that it is hard to see on 
what grounds it can be called in question. 

While there is no element of the theory, as stated by 
Professor White, that differs from the theory as heretofore 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 81 

stated, his applications of it are bold, original, and, best of 
all, successful, and they mark a new period in our study of the 
geology of oil and gas. 

The entire gas production of the new fields of Ohio and 
Indiana furnish the clearest proofs of the truth of the doc¬ 
trine above stated. The facts are not only entirely consistent 
with the theory, but they are inconsistent with any other, 
and they may be counted as completing the demonstration 
in its favor. 


b. The Terrace Structure. 

Nature sometimes begins to build anticlines which she does 
not finish. In a region of uniform dip, for example, the up¬ 
heaving force may go no further than to arrest the steady 
descent of the strata. If the whole had lain horizontal at 
the beginning, the force exerted would have been sufficient 
to bend them into a low arch; but, as the strata were de¬ 
scending, the force has all been used in arresting the descent 
and bringing the beds up to an approximately horizontal 
position for a small space. This peculiar structure has been 
designated “arrested anticlines.” (Geology of Ohio, VI, 94.) 

Mr. F. W. Minshall, of Marietta, was the first to bring this 
terrace structure into distinct notice. He discovered it in 
the famous Macksburg oil field of Southern Ohio, and here 
it was worked out under the Ohio Geological Survey by a 
careful series of instrumental measurements that left no ques¬ 
tion as to its reality ; while, at the same time, the economic 
development of the field showed the controlling influence of 
structure on oil and gas production throughout the territory 
involved. Since that time similar structure has been dis¬ 
covered in other oil fields of Ohio, and it is probable that 
adequate series of facts would reveal it as a frequent, if not 
a universal, element in oil production. It is much to be re¬ 
gretted that the great oil fields of Pennsylvania and New 
York have not been studied in such a way as to bring out 
the laws of their production. If the figures pertaining to 
even a small portion of the 50,000 wells which have been 
drilled here, had been reduced to some common datum, as 
the sea level, it is certain that generalizations could have 

GEOL. ST7R.—6 


82 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

been gathered from each held that would have made all the- 
results of these explorations thoroughly intelligible. All the 
facts of the great helds in this line that are available point 
unmistakably to the same conclusion that the Ohio helds 
have established, namely, that oil is likely to be gathered 
in terrace-like expansions of the reservoir rock. It is not 
necessary to insist on absolute horizontally in our definition 
of a terrace. If the dip is reduced to hve, or even ten feet 
to a mile, it is perhaps all that need be asked in this respect. 
Such hints as we have as to the structure of the great 
Bradford held, for example, render it certain that it would 
have furnished a magnificent example and confirmation of 
this view, if only the facts had been adequately gathered 
and tabulated. 

It must not be forgotten, however, that the terraces are 
in reality parts of anticlinal systems, and follow the same 
lines of geographical direction that sharper folds exhibit. 
The sketch map of the oil helds of Pennsylvania and New 
York, which is found on the succeeding page, renders it 
clear beyond the possibility of doubt or question that the 
oil helds have been developed along the great structural lines 
of the regions to which they belong. 

In the now famous held of Findlay, Ohio, the terrace 
structure has proved itself equally efficient in both gas and 
oil accumulation. The two products are separated here by 
sharp boundaries following persistent lines, and the drill 
has demonstrated the existence of two terraces arranged 
side by side, and connected by a monocline, the upper 
terrace being occupied exclusively by dry gas, the lower by^ 
oil and salt water. The interval between the two terraces 
at their line of juncture is about 150 feet. The new gas 
held of Central Indiana exhibits similar terrace structure. 

The structure of the new gas held of Meade county, it 
will be seen hereafter, comes under this head rather than 
under the preceding division. The productive arch is so 
low and hat that it may better be called a terrace than an 
arch. 

In concluding this division of the subject, it may be said 
that the high pressure gas of the Pennsylvania helds is de- 


AND ASPHALT ROOK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


83 


rived from pronounced anticlines, and the oil is apparently 
accumulated on terrace-like expansions of these arches, while 
the terrace structure, pure and simple, predominates in both 
oil and gas production of the new fields of Ohio and Indiana. 

IV. The Presence of Salt Water in Oil Rocks and Oas 

Rocks. 

Oil rocks and gas rocks have been shown to be porous rocks, 
covered with impervious shales, and in some way connected 
with underlying sources of petroleum. Are there any porous 
strata that are entirely and exclusively devoted to the storage 
of these fossil hydrocarbons? None such are known./ All 
the gas rocks and oil rocks that have ever been worked 
have, without exception, contained in some part of their 
extent water, and, in the great majority of instances, salt 
water. When the rock lies at comparatively small depth, 
as, for example, less than 500 feet, it often contains fresh 
water, but generally at greater depths, and sometimes at 
less as well, it is for the most part occupied with salt water 
in all portions of it that are not tilled with oil and gas. Even 
when occupied with fresh water at shallow depths, the same 
stratum, when folloAved to a greater depth, generally be¬ 
comes a salt-water rock. This association of salt water 
and oil has been conspicuous from the first. It will be re¬ 
membered that the original discovery of oil and gas in deep 
wells came from drilling that was undertaken in the search 
for salt water. It is certainly true that all the strata which 
have yielded brine for salt manufacture have, in some por¬ 
tion of their extent, yielded gas and oil also. It is not 
only true that all gas and oil rocks are salt water rocks, 
but the converse has but very few exceptions ; namely, all 
salt water rocks carry gas and oil as well. 

What is the source of the salt water that the oil rocks 
contain ? No other source than the sea in which they grew 
need be looked for. It is not necessary to find beds of 
rock salt at great depth to account for the enormous sup¬ 
plies of salt water with which all porous rocks are generally 
filled. They have been charged with this from the date of 
their formation. 


84 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

These deep brines sometimes vary widely in composition. 
Hunt has suggested that the Silurian brines may represent 
the composition of the sea water of an earlier day, and 
notably different from the composition of salt water at the 
present time. An important fact in this connection is, that 
the quality of the brines varies with the rock from which 
they are derived. Limestone, for example, carries sulphur¬ 
ous and otherwise impure brines. The best brines are de¬ 
rived from sandstones. 

Do these rocks reach the surface at any point ? Certainly 
they do. They form constituent parts of the general series, 
and share all its fortunes. When found in outcrop, they 
necessarily receive their portion of the rain-fall of the regions 
to which they belong. This fresh water follows the stratum 
downward through its various flexures, blending at length 
with the salt water that fills the great mass of the rock. 

When the porous rock in its salt water areas is penetrated 
at considerable depths by the drill, the brine invariably 
rises a greater or less distance in the well. Sometimes it 
overflows, but in other cases it falls short of reaching the 
surface by 50, 100 or 500 feet. The elevation that it reaches 
in one well it is likely to reach in others drilled near, 
indicating a common source and common pressure for all. 
What causes the salt water to rise in the wells ? The answer 
is plain. The water is simply responding to artesian pres¬ 
sure, and thus is governed by the elevation of the outcrop 
of the porous stratum. The latter may be carried in moun¬ 
tain folds to considerable elevations, and thus give high 
pressure even when the wells are not excessively deep. But 
this porous stratum that we are considering has a small 
amount of oil and gas distributed through it; and it must 
be remembered that the rock never lies horizontal for any 
great distance, but has been variously flexed by the acci¬ 
dents of its geological history. Numerous folds, greater or 
less, are sure to be found in it. Where shall we look for 
the stocks of gas and oil above referred to? Under such 
circumstances as we have supposed, gravitation would have 
been sure to effect a sej>aration of substances that differ as 
greatly in weight as the three that together fill the pores 


AND ASPHALT BOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 85 

of this reservoir rock. Gravity, in other words, will drive 
forward the gas to the highest point or arch of the stratum. 
The oil will take its place next below, while to the salt 
water the remainder of the rock, or, in reality, almost its 
entire volume, will be surrendered. All the low-lying regions 
of the porous stratum in particular will be flooded with salt 
water. 

If now a well be drilled to the stratum along one of these 
lines where all three substances are located in close proximity 
to each other, it is plain to see that any one of the three sub¬ 
stances, gas, oil or salt water, may be yielded to the drill, 
according to the location of the drill hole. If we drill into a 
trough of the rock, we find the salt water following the drill as 
soon as the reservoir is reached, and very likely it will overflow 
the well. The cause of this ascent of the salt water we have 
already seen, and we must keep it clearly in mind. It is an ar¬ 
tesian flow. But if the drill descends into the oil space, what 
is the result ? The oil may rise and overflow the well with great 
force. Gas is sure to be mingled with it in such a case. Let us 
make one more supposition. Suppose the drill reach the gas 
area of the porous rock upon the summit of one of the unbroken 
arches we have already described. What are we to find now ? 

The phenomena of a high pressure gas well are among the 
most striking in the whole range of mining enterprise. The gas 
issues from the well head with a velocity twice as great as that 
of a ball when it leaves a minie rifle. The noise with which it 
escapes is literally deafening. Exposure to it often results in 
loss of hearing on the part of those engaged about the well. 

What is it that originates this indescribable force ? What 
else do we need but the force we have just left, acting on the 
salt water which lies, it may be, but a few rods away from the 
gas well, and but a score or two of feet below in absolute depth ? 

It seems impossible to escape the conclusion that the pressure 
of the water column contained in the rock is responsible for all 
the effects of the outflows of gas and oil. Natural gas is com¬ 
pressed in the arch of the reservoir rock under ths pressure of a 
water column, just as artificial gas is compressed in the gas¬ 
holder of the city works. 

What other explanations of these remarkable facts have been 


86 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

offered ? But two have been put forward that deserve special 
consideration. Both will be briefly stated here. 

One of them teaches that the rock pressure of gas is derived 
from its expansive nature. Solid or liquid materials in the 
reservoir are supposed to be converted into gas as water is con¬ 
verted into steam. The resulting gas occupies many times more 
space than the bodies from which it was derived, and in seeking 
to obtain the space demanded by the change through which it 
has passed, it exerts the pressure which we note. 

This view has, no doiibt, elements of truth in it, even though 
it fails to furnish a full explanation. For the pressure of shale 
gas, it may be that no other force is required. But the theory 
is incapable of verification, and we are not able to advance a 
great ways beyond the statement of it. Some objections to it 
will also appear in connection with facts that have been already 
stated. 

The second of these explanations is, without doubt, more gen¬ 
erally accepted than any other by those w T ho have begun to 
think upon the question at all. It is to the effect that the 
w T eight of the superincumbent rocks is the cause of the high 
pressure of gas in the reservoirs. In other words, the term rock 
pressure is considered to be descriptive of a cause as well as of 
a fact. That a column of rock 1,000 or 1,500 feet deep has 
great weight is obvious. It is assumed that this weight, what¬ 
ever it is, is available in driving accumulations of gas out of 
rocks that contain them whenever communication is opened 
between the deeply buried reservoir and the surface. 

Is this assumption valid? Can the weight of the overlying 
rock work in this way ? 

Not unless there is freedom of motion on the part of the con¬ 
stituents of the rock, or, in other words, unless the rock has 
lost its cohesion, and is in a crushed state. If the rock retains 
its solidity, as Professor Lesley has shown, it can exert no more 
pressure on the gas that is held in the spaces between the grains 
than the walls of a cavern would exert on a stream of water 
flowing through it. The distinguished geologist named above 
has discussed this theory at some length, and has shown its 
entirely untenable character. (Annual Report, Penna. Survey, 
1885.) 


AND ASPHALT KOOK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


87 


The claim that the Trenton limestone, for example, where it 
is an oil or gas rock, exists in a crushed or comminuted state, is 
negatived by every fact that we can obtain that bears upon the 
subject. The claim is, in fact, entirely inadmissible and pre¬ 
posterous, but without this condition the theory fails. 

Neither of these explanations of the rock pressure of gas and 
oil is found to be valid when subjected to any adequate exami¬ 
nation, and we are left, therefore, to rely altogether upon the 
theory first stated, viz: that the flow of gas and oil depends 
upon the pressure of a water column, or, in other words, every 
flowing gas well or oil well is in reality an artesian well. With 
the principles involved in ordinary artesian wells, all intelligent 
persons are familiar, and it will, therefore, be easy for such to 
extend the applications of these laws to the cases now under 
consideration. An artesian water well obtains its supply from 
the syncline or trough of a folded section of rocks. Gas and 
oil, on the contrary, must come from the anticlines of the same 
or similar series. 

Demonstration of the Artesian Theory . 

The facts, recently accumulated in the great gas-fields of 
JNorthwestern Ohio and Central Indiana, afford a demonstra¬ 
tion of the truth of the artesian theory of the rock pressure of 
natural gas, so far as these fields are concerned, and at the same 
time they render it probable that the cause, which is found 
present here, is equally operative in all other gas-fields as well. 

The facts that enter into the demonstration come under the 
following heads, viz: (a) the height to which the salt water 
rises in wet wells; ( b ) the density of the salt water; (c) the 
depth below the surface at which the water is found in drilling 
the wells; (d) the initial rock pressure of the gas when it is 
reached by the drill. 

(a) As to the height to which the salt water rises in wet wells, 
there is not as much exact information as could be asked. A 
salt water well is, by its very nature, a failure, and the driller 
loses all interest in it from the time that its real character is 
made apparent; but we can sometimes obtain from his state¬ 
ments some clue as to the height to which the water ascends. 
The level at which the casing stands is an important point in 


88 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

the record of every well. When, therefore, the salt water is 
reported as rising 100, 200 or 300 feet in the casing, we can learn 
from such a record its approximate absolute height. The cas¬ 
ings in the Findlay district are set at an elevation of 300 to 40<) 
feet above tide. Salt water that ascends 100 or 200 feet into the 
casing is thus seen to have an absolute elevation of 400 to 600 
feet above tide. When the surface of the ground in which the 
well is drilled is lower than in the field last named, it becomes 
easier to get accurate figures. Along the shore of Lake Liie in 
Ohio, and in the Wabash Valley of Indiana, we obtain our most 
reliable data. The salt water rises nearly to the surface in the 
former district, and flows out in true artesian fashion from wells 
drilled in the last-named region, the surface of the valley being 
lower than that of the shore of Lake Erie. 

As a result of all the observations made, it can be stated that 
the strong and free flow of salt water from the Trenton lime¬ 
stone in the new gas-fields rises to approximately the same- 
height in all wells, viz: to a level of about 600 feet above tide, 
whatever the elevation of the surface, or the depth below the 
surface, at which the gas or oil is found. 

This rise of the salt water must represent the height of some 
outcrop of the Trenton limestone in its porous condition. Such 
an outcrop is found on the shores of Lakes Huron and Supe¬ 
rior, and at approximately the same elevation as that to which 
the salt water rises in the new gas-fields, viz: 600 above tide. 
Fresh water finds access to the limestone in these outcrops; but 
its influence, while available for pressure, would not go far 
towards changing the character of the peculiar bitterns or 
brines that occupy this great sheet in its subterranean expan¬ 
sion. 

(b) The specific gravity of the salt water of the Trenton lime¬ 
stone is high. Several determinations show a gravity of 1.1, 
and some samples are even heavier. A column of fresh water, 
one foot high, and having a one-square inch for the section, 
weighs .43285 lbs. avoirdupois. The weight of such a column 
of average sea-water is .445 lbs.; but twelve cubic inches of the 
Trenton brine, counted at 1.1, weigh .476 lbs. The weight may 
go as high even as .5 lbs. 

(c) The depth at which the gas or oil is found is the one ele- 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 81) 

ment in the calculation that can, as a rule, be definitely ascer¬ 
tained. Coming, as they do, from the surface or near the sur¬ 
face of the Trenton limestone, the depth at which this great 
stratum is reached is a fact of universal interest and record in 
all the subdivisions of the fields. 

(d) The remaining inquiry, that, namely, pertaining to the 
original rock pressure of the wells, does not admit, as a rule, of 
determination or observation at the present time; and to learn 
the facts, we must go back to the records of the earliest wells 
drilled in each portion of the productive territory. The pres¬ 
sure of a gas-field is reduced, and generally promptly, as soon 
as wells are multiplied to any considerable extent in it, and 
when we inquire for the facts of the pressure at the opening of 
the fields, we frequently find more or less uncertainty. Gauges 
are not always reliable, and, more than that, they are not 
always promptly applied. Exaggeration also finds place in 
these early records, to some extent. 

In the list of early pressures, reported from the different por¬ 
tions of the gas-fields, the following figures are counted fairly 
trustworthy and fairly representative to the districts to which 
they belong: 


Tiffin, Ohio. 

650 lbs.* 

*( Note. —The gauge used in 

Upper Sandsky, Ohio. 

515 “ 

this well read only to 600 

Bloom Township, Ohio. 

465 * ‘ 

lbs., but the index indicated 

Findlay, Ohio. 

450 “ 

an excess of 50 lbs.) 

St. Mary’s, Ohio. 

390 * ‘ 


St. Henry’s, Ohio .. 

375 “ 


Kokomo, Indiana. 

328 “ 


Marion, Indiana. 

323 “ 


Muncie, Indiana. 

300 “ f 

t(Rep’d as “less than 300 lbs.”) 


These figures will now be combined with other data from the 
respective wells, and to them will be added, for comparison, a 
column, containing calculations of the pressure that should 
result from the following factors, viz: (a) an assumed ascent of 
the salt water to 600 feet above tide; ( b ) an assumed specific 
gravity of 1.1 for the salt water, which gives .476 lbs. to the 
foot in pressure. If the gas rock is found below tide, the fig¬ 
ures, representing this depth, must be added to the 600 feet 
above tide, to which the water rises. These sums will repre¬ 
sent the effective water column. The rock pressure should be, 
























90 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


according to theory, the product of the numbers thus result¬ 
ing, and the weight of a column of Trenton limestone brine, 
one foot in height and one inch in section, which is .476 lbs. 


Location of Wells. 

Depth to 
Gas. 

Relation of Gas 
Rock to Sea Level. 

Original 

Pressure. 

tCalculated Pressure. 

Tifiin, (J. 

1,500 ft. 

747 ft. below tide. 

650 lbs. 

1,347X-476—641 lbs. 

Upper Sandusky, O. 

1,280 * 1 2 3 ‘ 

478 “ “ “ 

515 “ 

1,078X.476=513 ‘' 

Bloom Township, O. 

1,145 “ 

395 “ “ “ 

465 “ 

995X-476=476 “ 

Findlav, O. 

1,120 ‘ ‘ 

336 “ “ “ 

450 “ 

936X-476=445 “ 

St Mary’s, 0. . . . 

1,159 “ 

238 “ “ “ 

390 “ 

838X*476*=399 “ 

St. Henry’s, 0 . . . 

1,156 “ 

200 “ “ 

375 “ 

800X-476=476 “ 

Kokomo, Indiana. . 

986 ‘ ‘ 

98 ‘ ‘ * * ‘ i 

328 “ 

698X-476=332 “ 

Marion, Indiana . . 

870 ‘ ‘ 

78 “ “ “ 

323 “ 

678X-476=323 “ 

Muneie, Indiana . . 

900 ‘ ‘ 

*0 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ «» 

—300 “ 

600X.476=286 “ 


*At tide level. 

|Add 600 to figures in third column, and multiply by .476 lbs. 

The agreement between the last two columns of the tables 
affords a demonstration of the principal cause of the rock pres¬ 
sure of Trenton limestone gas. It is due to the weight of the 
salt water that occupies the porous rock jointly with itself, 
though by a very unequal partnership, and the water pressure 
in turn is unmistakably of artesian origin. 

A few obvious conclusions that follow the acceptance of the 
artesian theory will find appropriate place at this point, and 
will conclude the discussion of this particular subject. 

1. The supplies of gas and oil are seen to be definitely limited 
by this theory of rock pressure. If a salt water column is the 
propelling force, it is idle to speculate on constantly renewed 
supplies. The water advances as the gas or oil is withdrawn, 
and the closing stage of the oil rock is, as already pointed out, 
a salt water rock. 

2. Other things being equal, the rock pressure will be greatest 
in the deepest wells. The deeper the well, the longer the water 
column. 

3. Other things being equal, the rock pressure will be greatest 
in districts the gas or oil rock of which rises highest above the 
sea in its outcrops. The 800 pounds of rock pressure in Penn¬ 
sylvania gas wells, as contrasted with the 400 pounds pressure 
of Findlay wells, can be accounted for on this principle. 



























AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 91 

4. Where both oil and gas are found in a single field, the first 
'sign of approaching failure will be the invasion of the gas rock 
by oil, or of the oil rock by salt water. Salt water follows the 
gas directly, however, in a great many fields without the inter¬ 
vention of an oil horizon. 

5. This explanation shows the lack of all foundation for the 
views advanced from time to time by sciolists, wrongly called 
scientists, as to imminent dangers that are to result from air 
entering the gas rock, and there forming an explosive mixture, 
or from extensive subsidence of the regions from under which 
the gas has been withdrawn. Such notions, whenever advanced, 
are sure to obtain wide currency through the newspapers, but 
they are utterly foolish, and, so far as they disquiet the minds 
of the ignorant, are mischievous. 

II. The Discovery and Development of Oil Fields and 

Gas Fields. 

We have seen that immense accumulations of oil and gas 
are sometimes found in the stratified rocks of the earths* 
crust. They occur in various kinds of strata, and at depths 
below the surface ranging from 100 to 2,500, or even 3,000 feet. 
We have also seen that these reservoirs are the source of enor¬ 
mous wealth to the individuals or companies who find access to 
them. A single one of these pools of oil or store-houses of gas 
may prove to be one of the great prizes of the modern mining 
world. 

How are these reservoirs discovered ? Are they found acci 
dentally, or as a result of definite search ? If the latter is true, 
what is there to guide the search ? Are there natural signs of 
the presence of petroleum and gas that will lead us to their 
places of concealment, or are there geological indications that 
can be profitably followed in locating wells ? These are the 
kinds of questions that are to be considered under this general 
division. 

1. Discovery of Petroleum and Gas. 

Most of the early discoveries of petroleum and gas were made 
accidentally, as has been shown in Chapters I and II. In the 
search for brine to be used in salt manufacture, both of them 


92 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL G4S 


were first brought to light in this country. But since the 
modern utilization of these substances, a direct and costly 
search by the drill has been instituted and carried forward on a 
large scale throughout many parts of the world. Our recent 
supplies, including all the largest ones that have been thus far 
obtained, are the result of this search. In this country, where 
by far the greatest development has taken place, the search has, 
until quite recently, been guided by a few facts and a great 
many theories. Most of the latter have been crude generaliza¬ 
tions from an insufficient number of inadequate observations, 
but they have served to meet, for the time at least, the natural 
and imperative demand of the mind for some rational basis ol 
action. 

In answer to the question, how are these stocks of oil and gas • 
brought to light, it can be said that the new stocks are fre¬ 
quently found in the drilling of trial wells, commonly known as 
“ wildcat” wells, which are located outside of all the bounda¬ 
ries of known production. When once a new district is indi¬ 
cated, by reason of such a well yielding gas or oil in noteworthy 
amount, the aim of outside parties is to secure territory as near 
to the successful well as possible, so as to make its experience 
available for their own use, and possibly to divide its supplies 
of oil and gas. The discoverer of a new source of oil was, in the 
earlier times, often robbed of most or all the value of his dis¬ 
covery by the crowding upon his lines of drillers who would 
avail themselves without scruple of his good fortune. To guard 
against such results the driller, in entering upon new territory, 
has been obliged to secure by leases the exclusive right to drill 
upon large and connected bodies of land, so that if any value is 
found in the property, the discoverer will be able to appropriate 
at least a fair share of it. The leasing of oil and gas territory, 
therefore, becomes the first stage in the development of a new 
oil field. Leases vary greatly in form, and also in the advan¬ 
tages which they give respectively to land-owners and oil-pro¬ 
ducers. A form that is in common use in Kentucky at the 
present time is given below : 

“That for and in consideration of one dollar paid, the receipt 
of which is here acknowledged, and the other considerations 
hereinafter mentioned, the parties of the first part have, and by 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 93 

these presents do bargain, lease and convey unto the said parties 
of the second part the gas, oil, mineral gases and waters on, in 
and under the following described land, viz : * * * * * * 

u As well the right and privilege to dig, bore and prospect for 
same on said land, and the right to such use of said land as may 
be necessary to produce said gas, oil or waters, and transport 
same to market, and the right to produce same and prospect 
therefor, and to open wells for same and to operate them ; to 
have and to hold unto the parties of the second part and their 
assigns all of said rights and privileges. 

‘ k The parties of the second part agree and promise to pay to 
the parties of the first part fifty dollars per annum for each 
well they dig or open on said land and which they operate, for 
each year they so operate same, and one-sixteenth of all gas, oil 
or waters taken by them from wells on said land, to be taken by 
parties of first part at such wells, and all of same at well that 
the parties of first part may use for domestic purposes. 

“Unless the parties of second part, or their assigns, shall 
begin to bore or prospect for said oils or gases on said land 
within three years from this date, this lease shall be null and 
void.” 

The greatest variety in leases is in the proportion of the 
production that is assigned to the land-owner. The form above 
given allows but others |, £, and even J of the total product. 
Their provisions also vary as to the cash rental of the wells. In 
some cases entire farms are leased at a cash rental per acre as 
long as they are held. In some recent instances, the land-owner 
reserves for his own use a certain part of every tract or farm 
which is leased. He is much better able to secure a lair share 
of the profit of a successful field in this way. This modifica¬ 
tion of the old form of lease, has every thing in its favor so far 
as the interest of the land-owner is concerned. 

In locating these trial wells, the driller is sometimes guided 
by the lines of direction which have been established upon the 
wells previously drilled in the nearest fields. In such cases he 
simply extends the lines for a considerable distance beyond 
proved territory. In other cases, and these constitute by far 
the larger number, the driller locates his venture with sole refer¬ 
ence to the surface features of the country within which he is 


94 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


to operate. But during the last few years the most extensive 
explorations have grown out of the ambition or the supposed 
necessities of cities and towns, scattered far and wide, to find 
natural gas for themselves, in order to compete with their for¬ 
tunate neighbors, who have already secured a supply. Drilling 
has been carried on over entire States in this search, and, as a 
result, numerous important additions have been made both to 
the lields and the horizons of gas and petroleum. 

°2. Surface Indications. 

Reference has already been made to the fact that the driller 
is guided, to a greater or less degree, in his selection of territory 
to be tested by some of the superficial phenomena of the coun¬ 
try. What are the kinds of facts he employs in this way ? 

He sometimes finds a clew, as he imagines, in the ordinary 
surface features of the country. He is familiar, for example, 
Avith the oil-producing territory of Western Pennsylvania or of 
Northern Ohio. The former is a high-lying plateau, much dis¬ 
sected by the long-continued agencies of erosion ; the latter is a 
drift-covered plain that departs in but small degree from a hor¬ 
izontal surface. Such surface features as are here indicated will 
of course be duplicated in many regions, the geological sections 
of which may be entirely distinct from the sections of the dis¬ 
tricts named. But often, for lack of any other guidance, the 
driller will seize upon some ravine or valley or some extended 
plain for the location of his trial well, because of its accidental 
resemblance to a point that may have proved productive in his 
former experience. To be able to say, this location ‘ ‘ looks like 
Western Pennsylvania,” or “ looks like Findlay,” is with some 
a sufficient justification of the location of a well. When, from 
some new and hitherto unknown horizon, stumbled upon in this 
way, and perhaps a mile distant in the vertical scale from any 
stratum that was ever found productive in the fields which are 
taken as the standards of comparison, gas and oil are found 
abundant, the prescience of the practical man is counted 
fully justified and is, to say the least, duly celebrated. The 
failures of such predictions are, however, never counted against 
their authors; for these, an explanation can always be given. 

It is obvious that all such guidance as this is entirely des- 


AND ASPHALT ROOK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 95 

titute of value, and, as a matter of fact, it is only the least 
intelligent location that is now made in this way. When the 
prospector has nothing more than this to offer in behalf of his 
location, it is obvious that he has no valid ground whatever 
for it. But, as in new fields, one location is as good as another, 
so far as these surface features are concerned, for all that any 
one knows, it must be added no great harm is done by follow¬ 
ing these illusive resemblances. The main mischief comes 
when the location happens to prove successful. The confi¬ 
dence inspired by one success of this sort will often lead to 
the wasting of a great deal of money. It can be set down with 
all assurance, therefore, that the superficial resemblances of 
untested territory to territory that has been proved productive, 
have no significance or value whatever. It is not worth while 
to try to find ravines like those of Western Pennsylvania, nor 
drift-covered plains like those of Findlay, in or upon which to 
locate wells. The closest of such resemblances would not have 
the smallest possible significance. 

There are, however, surface indications of another kind that 
are much more widely appealed to, and that in reality may 
have a great deal of significance and value in leading us to the 
great reservoirs. These indications are found in the escape of 
gas and oil from the rocks, either with or without the presence 
of water. In the latter case, they are known as gas springs, 
oil springs or tar springs, according to their special production. 
These escaping products, in reality, monopolize the name “ sur¬ 
face-indications.” Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, where petroleum 
was first discovered in this country as a commercial product, 
obtained its name from the oil that oozed out from many springs 
along the banks of the stream, and which kept its surface 
always discolored with their floating films. Findlay, Ohio, the 
center and source of the most wide-spread drilling excitement 
that has swept through the country since the first development 
of Oil Creek, had “surface-indications” of the most pro¬ 
nounced character in the escaping gas that spoiled the springs 
and wells of the town, and found its way into cisterns, cellars 
and sewers, from the first occupation of the country. It was 
the “ surface-indications ” that led in both these instances to 
the astonishing developments that have followed. That surface 


90 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

indications may have very great value and significance in this 
direction, therefore, goes without saying. Do they always 
have such significance and value ? Do all escapes of gas and 
oil stand for great reservoirs underneath ? This is an assump¬ 
tion that is often and most positively made, in connection with 
surface indications; but it is most baseless, mischievous and 
misleading. The truth is, that by far the greater number of 
such surface shows of gas and oil, probably 99 out of every 100, 
stand for no large accumulations whatever. Can those indica¬ 
tions that do not lead to large accumulations be distinguished 
from those that may so lead? As a rule, they can be distin¬ 
guished. There is one formation in particular that is given to 
“surface indications” of small significance, along the whole 
line of its out-crop, namely, the Ohio Black Shale. It occupies 
a very conspicuous belt across the whole width of Kentucky, 
from Louisville on the north to Burksville on the south, and 
along this belt, and near it, as the shale dips under shallow 
cover, “surface-indications” of both oil and gas are always and 
everywhere in order. But, as a rule, they reveal all there is in 
the formation, namely, the possibility of weak, but long-con¬ 
tinued outflows of gas. There is a single and very important 
exception that will be described in a succeeding chapter, in the 
case of the Meade county gas field ; but the statements already 
made apply to the formation as a whole. 

The tar springs of the State, which issue from the great sand 
rocks of the Chester group, and the Carboniferous Conglom¬ 
erate, are examples again of “surface-indications” that prob¬ 
ably lead to nothing larger than themselves. 

It needs, therefore, to be distinctly recognized that there are 
various kinds of “surface indications,” and that by far the 
larger portion of them are in no ways derived from great reser¬ 
voirs of oil and gas. In fact, no example has been afforded, in 
the recent history of Kentucky, of any other sort of “surface- 
indications” than those already described, for the reason that 
no great accumulations of oil and gas have been recently found 
within the State. The great American well of Burksville, 
which dates back to the year 1829, if we can rely on the 
accounts of its production that have come down to us, must 


I 


AND ASPHALT KOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 9? 


liave furnished a case in which “surface-indications” were con¬ 
nected with a really great reservoir. 

The so-called surface-indications of oil in marshy ground need 
to be alluded to in this connection, because they often mislead 
the untrained observer. The iridescent film that mantles the 
stagnant watei, found in such situations, is not due to the pres¬ 
ence of oil, as is commonly held, but is a thin scale of iron ore 
foimed from tlie oxidation of the iron dissolved in the water 
which feeds the bog. 


When we call to mind the facts of the preceding chapter as 
to the almost universal presence of petroleum and gas in the 
varied members of the series of stratified rocks, we shall not 
find ground for wondering that these widely diffused stores 
make so many natural exhibitions of themselves in the way of 
“ surface-indications.” 


III. Geological Indications. 

Is the geologist any better off in this search than the 
untrained prospector? Are there any clues to the great pro¬ 
duction that he can find and follow, which another would not 
see? Has the geology of oil and gas reached such a stage of 
scientific development that it can safely undertake the work of 
predicting results to any extent ? 

In answer to these questions, it can be said, considerable 
progress has been made within the last decade, and the posi¬ 
tion of the geologist in this respect is improving every year. 
It must also be borne in mind that the most valuable guides of 
the most sagacious operators are facts that are strictly geologi¬ 
cal in their nature and bearing. The lines of compass-bearing, 
which he follows from one successful well to another, are, in 
reality, nothing but the lines of direction of the uplifts or 
arches upon which the geologist lays so much stress ; and if a 
superficial knowledge of the facts can be turned to some econ¬ 
omic account, a larger and more systematic knowledge would 
seem likely to be still more valuable. It will be found that this 
is proving true to some extent. 

The geological indications that can be made serviceable belong 
to two main lines of facts, viz: First, the order of the series at 

GEOL. SUR.— 7. 


98 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


any particular point, involving the probability of reservoir 
rocks at suitable depths; and second, rhe structure or arrange¬ 
ment of the strata at any point with reference to favorable or 
unfavorable physical conditions for the storage of gas and oil. 

a. Order of the Series. 

It can easily be seen that the order of the underlying geologi¬ 
cal series is a main factor in the possibility of oil production in 
any locality. There must be a certain relation of the strata, as 
has been already pointed out, to admit of any accumulation of 
petroleum or gas. Cover, reservoir and source must be found, 
once, at least, in every productive section, in the order herewith 
named, to render an oil field possible. Such a collocation of 
strata may be found several times repeated in long sections, in 
which case there may be more than one oil horizon. The geolo¬ 
gist is able to determine approximately, from an examination of 
the rocks that constitute the surface, what the underlying order 
is for a few hundred, and often for a few thousand feet. He 
studies the strata at their nearest outcrops, and finds their com¬ 
position. He learns their prevailing dip, its direction and 
amount, and from these factors he can predict, often considera¬ 
bly in advance of the drill, at what depths rocks suitable to 
become store-houses of these coveted bituminous productions 
can be found. Whoever does this work is making use of 
geological data, and is obtaining geological results, whether he 
calls himself a geologist or not. The more thoroughly and 
systematically the work is done, the better it will of course be. 

But the strata found in any particular section cannot be 
supposed to extend indefinitely in all directions, with thickness 
and character unchanged. Sometimes, it is true, they show 
great steadiness and persistency, but sometimes again they 
undergo rapid alterations in the particulars above-named. 
From the nature of the changes that are found to be in prog¬ 
ress at any particular point, the sagacious observer may some¬ 
times infer, with considerable confidence, what the conditions 
will be at some locality well in advance; but, after all, there 
are serious limitations to our theoretical forecasts in these fields, 
and a probable order is all that can be affirmed. It often hap¬ 
pens that the stratum is porous in one condition, and thus 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


99 


able to answer the purpose of an oil or gas reservoir, while 
in another condition, it loses this porosity altogether. If these 
changes take place capriciously, or without any apparent regu¬ 
larity or order, as they sometimes appear to do, it is evident 
that no prevision can extend to them ; but if the transforma¬ 
tion appears to be progressive and regular in any given direc¬ 
tion, we, in such cases, obtain the right to assert with 
confidence, far in advance of the drill, what the character of 
the stratum will be found to be. This state of things is welt 
exemplified in the case of the Trenton limestone of Ohio and 
Indiana, the bituminous stores of which have proved so re¬ 
markable and valuable during the last few years. Where it at¬ 
tains the character of a reservoir rock it is a pure dolomite ; but 
through a considerable part of Northwestern Ohio, for example, 
the stratum plays fast and loose with this characteristic, aban¬ 
doning the dolomitic composition in a single well or neighbor¬ 
hood, while showing it in wells or neighborhoods on all sides 
around. Here, no predictions can be safely made for new wells 
or localities. But, on another hand, as the Trenton limestone is 
followed southward from the Lima field, it loses steadily and 
finally its dolomitic composition, and thus all power of bitu¬ 
minous storage is withdrawn from it. We are able, on such 
grounds, to say, with all confidence, that the Trenton limestone 
is not an oil or gas rock for large areas, in which it constitutes 
a well-known element in the geological scale. 

But when the most is said for geological prediction of thi 
particular sort, it is freely acknoAvledged that the final answer 
in every new section must come from the testimony of the drill. 
The work of the geologist makes the work of the driller intelli¬ 
gent, and this is an immense gain in and of itself. It cannot 
be dispensed with in any proper development of a new field ; 
but there are too many possibilities of change in an extended 
series to allow us to base large outlays with full confidence on 
the most sagacious geological prevision. 

b. The Arrangement or Structure of the Rocks. 

The services that can be rendered by the geologist under the 
head now to be considered are, without doubt, the most valua¬ 
ble he can render in the eager search for oil, and especially for 


100 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

gas, that is going forward on every side. In fact, geological 
guidance is now recognized as indispensable to success in the 
most important gas districts of the country. It will be remem¬ 
bered that the leading gas fields have been classed under two 
main heads ; those, namely, that are found upon the summits of 
low anticlines, as in Western Pennsylvania, and those that 
occupy the terraces of the Trenton limestone of Northwestern 
Ohio and Central Indiana. In the latter, the gas is distributed 
in such broad and continuous areas that the geologist has only 
to concern himself with the main boundaries of the gas fields. 
But, in Western Pennsylvania, he is called upon to mark out 
for the driller the flattened summits of arches never more than 
a mile or two miles in width, and sometimes holding up to a 
uniform level for ten or twelve miles in length, the directions of 
which are not constant, as the practical man is wont to assume, 
but are often found to curve and bend in a perplexing manner. 

How can these summits of the arches be recognized? I 
answer, by the relative levels of the strata that compose them. 
Some particular element, a coal seam or a well-marked lime¬ 
stone, for example, can be followed by the level or the barome 
ter, in its multiplied outcrops across the country; and when 
two or three sections have been run on properly selected lines, 
and have been platted on a proper scale, the arch, if there be 
one, in the territory that has been traversed, will come into dis¬ 
tinct view. 

As stated on the preceding page, it is to Professor I. C. 
White, of West Virginia, that we owe the great progress of 
the last few years in the possibility of geological predictions of 
this kind. His successful location of gas wells has done more 
to commend geology to the great interest concerned in the pro¬ 
duction of gas and oil, than all other scientific investigations 
combined, that have been undertaken in this field. 

In this division of the geologist’s work, he is entirely inde¬ 
pendent of the driller, and it is his place to go before him and 
point out, with a good degree of precision, where the most 
promising possibilities are to be found. As has been shown in 
a previous section, he is powerless to predict the condition of 
the reservoir rock when reached, as to grain or thickness; but 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


101 


its relative altitude he can positively determine; and this lias 
already been seen to be a point of vital importance. 

In all this, it is assumed that all the strata of an extended 
series have been flexed together, and that the disposition of a 
single bed 1,000 or 2,000 feet below the surface will agree per¬ 
fectly with the disposition of the surface rocks, rising and fall¬ 
ing with them. These conclusions have not been rashly taken 
for granted, but have been submitted to, and have been found 
to be fully supported by the tests of extensive series of meas¬ 
urements, carried from the surface by the level, and under¬ 
ground by the drill. The best results of this sort come from 
the Macksburg oil field of Southern Ohio. (Geology of Ohio, 
VI, 94.) 

There are many cases, however, in which the results of move¬ 
ments, originating at different ages of the earth’s history, are 
now combined in a single section. Such cases might give rise 
to anomalies ; but in one important instance in Ohio, they have 
furnished strong corroborative testimony as to the efficiency and 
necessity of a proper relation of the gas rock in whatever way 
brought about. 

These, then, are the methods in which the geologist can ren¬ 
der aid in the discovery of gas and oil. He can indicate the 
strata that are likely to prove reservoir rocks in any section 
the elements of which have been already worked out, and he 
can also indicate the probable depth at which such strata will 
be found ; and he can determine, with precision, by doing work 
enough, what are the best points in any field in which to locate 
trial wells; or, what is equally important, he can determine 
that certain districts are entirely destitute of geological promise 
in this regard. He can also make the driller’s work intelligent, 
and this is one of his not least important services. In a word, 
lie is now able to render to a well-driller the same general sort 
of guidance and aid that he has long rendered to the mining 
engineer. But as in mining, so in drilling, there will always be 
room for surprises. Unique phenomena, like a Comstock Lode, 
a Carbonate Hill, a White Pine Chamber, or a petroliferous 
phase of the Trenton limestone, he can never imagine in 
advance of their discovery. 

It must be also added that he is pledged to conservative 


102 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


views, and must not be relied on to lead investigation in new 
fields or institute a search for new horizons of mineral wealth 
of any sort. On the very supposition that is made, there is no 
geological warrant for such investigations. There are only 
geological possibilities involved. Many of the most valuable 
discoveries in the line of oil and gas of recent years, have been 
made in the face of all known geological probabilities as they 
were understood at the time. Such was the discovery of high 
pressure gas in the Trenton limestone at Findlay, in 1884, and 
in the Clinton series at Lancaster, Ohio, in 1888. If the world 
had waited for the geologists to point out and unlock these foun¬ 
tains, it would, without doubt, have waited long—been waiting 
still. But when these sources of wealth are once discovered, 
it is the geologist’s work alone that can make their true signifi¬ 
cance and relations appear. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


103 


CHAPTER V. 


UTILIZATION OF NATURAL GAS, INCLUDING METH¬ 
ODS OF TRANSPORTATION AND MEASUREMENT. 


No form of mineral wealth has awakened as widespread 
interest in our day as natural gas. Certainly, there is no other 
mineral production in the search for which so many people are 
directly or indirectly engaged. Villages, cities, counties, vote 
upon the expenditure of large amounts of public money in the 
work of exploration, and the propositions to use public money 
in this way almost always prevail. Millions of people in the 
Mississippi Valley may be safely said to be actively interested 
at the present time in the various questions pertaining to this 
subject. 

The steps that have led to this universal interest have been 
briefly described in the preceding chapters. It is not more than 
ten years since natural gas began to be counted, by any consid¬ 
erable part of our people, as worthy of our consideration as a 
source of domestic and manufacturing fuel. Pittsburgh taught 
the world this lesson, that natural gas is the most perfect and 
most desirable form of fuel that we can possibly secure. But 
Pittsburgh gave little ground to other sections of the country 
for entertaining the hope that they also might obtain a supply 

of the new fuel for themselves. It was universally believed by 

% 

geologists and oil-producers alike, ten years ago, not only that 
the conditions for the large production of oil and gas were ex¬ 
ceedingly limited in their distribution, but also that these sub¬ 
stances were scarcely to be looked for below the Devonian series 
in which the Pennsylvania oil and gas are found. 

It fell to Findlay to teach a lesson, of at least equal impor¬ 
tance with that taught by Pittsburgh, that the stocks of gas 
.and oil are not limited to Devonian rocks, but may be found in 
vast volume, almost to the bottom of the great series of strati- 




104 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

tied deposits. It was this revolutionary discovery of gas and oil 
in the Trenton limestone that kindled the excitement far and 
wide throughout the country, and that led so many thriving 
towns, in a half dozen States, to inquire as to their own pos¬ 
sibilities in this matter, and, finally, to test these possibilities 
by the drill. It seemed, indeed, for a little while to many as if 
natural gas were likely to become the universal fuel. Had not 
the geologist been completely surprised by the experience of 
Findlay ? Could his forecasts be longer counted of any value ?' 
If a well, drilled in the drift-covered plain of Northwestern 
Ohio, to a depth of a thousand or 1,200 feet, had found so 
unexpected and so vast a supply of the best of fuel, what 
reason could be given why a thousand other localities should 
not, by a proper search, find as valuable resources beneath 
their own foundations ? Of course, no satisfactory answer but 
that of the drill could be given to such questions. These prac¬ 
tical answers were rapidly multiplied during the next two 
or three years throughout the Northern Mississippi Valley; 
and though additions of immense importance have been made 
to the known storehouses of bituminous products by this wide¬ 
spread and enthusiastic search, it still remains true that they 
are very far from being universal. On the contrary, they are 
still seen to be as sharply limited and restricted in all their 
productive areas as of old. In Central Indiana, the largest 
gas-field of the world has been brought to light; and, as a 
direct result of this search, in two counties of Central Ohio, 
the Clinton formation has been added to the Trenton limestone 
as a valuable source of gas. Many thriving towns, lying out¬ 
side of the limits of gas production, are supplied from the more 
favored territory by pipe lines. In Ohio, Toledo, Dayton, 
Columbus, Springfield, and a score of other cities and towns, 
are now supplied, or are soon to be, from one or other of the 
two new sources already named. In like manner, Indianap¬ 
olis, Fort Wayne, and numerous other towns of Indiana, are 
bringing in natural gas, to the exclusion of all other fuel; and 
this, in addition to all the thriving towns within the limits of 
the gas territory, that are now supplied. 

The cause of this widespread excitement and interest, which 
has been referred to in the preceding paragraph, is not hard to 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 105 

rind. It is the money valne of the gas that leads to the extra¬ 
ordinary interest that pertains to good territory. 

A gas well, the drilling of which will cost $1,000 to $5,000, 
will pour forth, for a series of months, and often years, a flood 
of gas, which, even at the lowest rates that ever prevail, may 
be worth to its owner $100, $1,000, or even $2,000 a day. As 
already shown, the charm that invests a gas held is precisely 
the same as that which invests a mining district of phenomenal 
richness. The great advantages of natural gas are found in 
the support which it gives to manufacturing industries of va¬ 
rious sorts. To certain lines of manufactures it is so happily 
adapted that competition, without it, is almost out of the 
question. Its presence invites and stimulates manufacturing 
enterprises to a wonderful degree. In addition to the direct 
value of a gas-field, our alert business men have not been slow 
to recognize the fact that no other element, in the list of the 
natural advantages of a town, can be made to exert half the 
attractive power that the possession of a good supply of the 
new fuel can give. Real estate speculation, consequently, of 
the most violent and unreasonable sort, has sprung up in many 
of the favored towns of Ohio and Indiana during the last few 
years, based wholly upon the presence of this new element. 

Natural gas is valued, because it is the best of fuel. What 
makes it the best of fuel; or, in other words, on what does its 
adaptation to all the purposes of fuel depend? Obviously, 
upon its chemical composition. This subject will be first con¬ 
sidered ; but before taking it up, a few facts pertaining to the 
physical properties of natural gas will rind appropriate men¬ 
tion. 


Physical Properties of Natural Gas. 

All forms of natural gas are colorless and transparent. Some 
of the varieties have a well marked and even offensive odor, 
derived from their sulphurous constituents. A small percent¬ 
age of the latter group goes a good way in advertising the pres¬ 
ence of the gas. The discoloration of compounds of lead and 
silver, by the sulphuretted hydrogen of this variety of gas, are 
familiar but troublesome phenomena in the new fields of Ohio 
and Indiana. 


106 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

The gas of many districts, and of Western Pennsylvania in 
particular, is counted odorless; but this claim needs qualifica¬ 
tion. The odor is not pronounced, and certainly not offensive; 
but natural gas is seldom free from the characteristic odor of 
some of the chemical compounds represented in it. 

As to the specific gravity of natural gas, there is, of course, 
considerable range arising from the well-marked differences that 
are found in its composition. The direct determination of the 
specific gravity of gas is a somewhat difficult problem, requiring 
delicate instruments and nice manipulation. So far as known, 
no such determinations have thus far been made. All the 
figures that we have are, with a single exception, derived from 
calculations made upon the chemical composition of the gas. 
But, as will presently appear, there are some minor questions as 
to its exact composition, that cannot be definitely determined. 
Our figures, therefore, must rest upon an assumed composition 
of the gas, and variations in them are likely to result from dif¬ 
ferent opinions, on the part of chemists, as to the manner in 
which the elements are combined. 

Professor Howard’s determination of the Findlay or Trenton 
limestone gas makes its gravity practically .57 (air being 1.00). 
Professor Robinson, by the application of an ingenious and 
original method, deduced a specific gravity of .60 for it. For 
purposes of comparison, the following figures may prove inter¬ 


esting : 

Pennsylvania natural gas.51 to .54 

Coal gas.40 

Water gas. 57 to .60 

Producer gas.1.00 


Some varieties of natural gas have been figured as high as 
.87. It is probable that the gas of Meade county will show a 
high specific gravity. 

Chemical Composition of Natural Gas. 

Chemistry is counted an exact science. To the uninitiated, it 
would seem an easy enough task to determine, with absolute 
precision, the composition of a substance like natural gas. But 
the chemist has found great difficulty in the problem. In the 
first place, natural gas sweeps through as wide a range of com- 






AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


10? 


position as coal does, without losing its name. The fire damp 
of the miner is natural gas; the marsh gas of the stagnant pool 
is natural gas ; and the inflammable gases, released by the drill 
from their deep reservoirs, though varying much in quality 
from each other, are all known by the same name. 

But, aside from the fact that no one analysis can possibly 
cover the ground, there are, in the second place, difficulties of 
another sort in the way of the chemist as he attempts to answer 
the question, what is natural gas \ He can determine accurately 
and easily enough the proportions of the organic elements, car 
bon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, that are present in any 
gas ; but these absolute proportions give us comparatively little 
of the information that we desire. We need to know how these 
elements are combined in the gas ; and its value, as fuel, is de¬ 
pendent, to a great extent, upon the particular form of combi¬ 
nation. But to obtain the results of the chemist, the original 
organic compounds of the gas must be decomposed and de¬ 
stroyed ; and, consequently, there is more or less uncertainty in 
his restoration of these compounds. There is, at the present 
time, a growing accord among the best chemical authorities as 
to the interpretation to be placed upon the results of analysis. 
Natural gas is now believed to consist of about 90 per cent, of 
hydrocarbons of the paraffine group, with varying proportions 
of other elements. The first series of results that established 
this conclusion was obtained by Professor C. C. Howard, of 
Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio Geological Survey. He analyzed, 
in 1886, Findlay gas, with great care, and showed its composi¬ 
tion to be as follows : 


Marsh gas. 

Olefiant gas. 

Hydrogen. 

Nitrogen. 

Oxygen. 

Carbonic acid. 

Carbonic oxide . . . . 
Sulphuretted hydrogen . 


92.61 

0.30 

2.18 

3.61 

0.34 

0.26 

0.50 

0.20 


After an interval of several months, a new analysis was made, 
and the figures were found to agree with those previously ob¬ 
tained within the limits of error involved in the processes 
themselves. More significant still are the results of Professor 










108 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


Howard’s re-determination of Findlay gas, for the United 
States Geological Survey, in the summer of 1887. To these 
results, which agree as closely as could be desired with the 
figures originally obtained, are added the composition of Fos- 
toria gas, St. Mary’s gas, and the gas of four well-known cen¬ 
ters of production in the Indiana field, viz., Muncie, Anderson, 
Kokomo and Marion. The very important fact is brought to 
light that all of this production is of one piece. The differ¬ 
ences in results would all be included within the limits of error 
in the processes, and as wide a range could be obtained from 
analyzing one and the same specimen of gas at different times, 
without any change whatever in its composition. 


The figures are given below : 



1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

i 

Hydrogen. 

1.89 

1.64 

1.74 

2.35 

1.86 

1.42 

1.20 

Marsh gas. 

92.84 

93.35 

93.85 

92.67 

93.07 

94.16 

93.58 

Olefiant gas. 

.20 

.35 

.20 

.25 

.49 

.30 

.15 

Carbonic oxide .... 

.55 

.41 

.44 

.45 

.73 

.55 

.60 

Carbonic acid. 

.20 

.25 

.23 

.25 

.26 

.29 

.30 

Oxygen. 

.35 

.39 

.35 

.35 

.42 

.30 

.55 

Nitrogen. 

3.82 

3.41 

2 98 

3.53 

3.02 

2.80 

3.42 

Sulphuretted hydrogen. 

.15 

.20 

.21 

.15 

.15 

.18 

.20 


100.00 








1. Fostoria. Ohio. 

2. Findlay, Ohio. 

3. St. Mary’s, Ohio. 

4. Muncie, Indiana. 


5. Anderson, Indiana. 

6. Kokomo, Indiana. 

7. Marion, Indiana. 


These are remarkable and instructive results. From one end 
of the new field to the other the composition of the gas is the 
same, and all the popular judgments, as to differences in this 
or that particular district, are seen to be baseless. 

Although natural gas was in large and very successful use in 
Western Pennsylvania for at least five years before it was dis¬ 
covered in Findlay, we were left without any adequate knowl¬ 
edge of its chemical composition until long after the results 
above given were established. In fact, the first authoritative 
announcement of its composition proved to be most incorrect 
and misleading. In 1885, the Pennsylvania Geological Survey 
published, on the authority of a well-known chemist of that 










































AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


109 


State, a series of results of a most surprising character. These 
results were widely reprinted in the- scientific and practical 
journals of the day, and did a great deal to bring confusion into 
the minds of those who were studying the subject. The conclu¬ 
sions were as follows: The natural gas of Western Pennsylvania 
is an exceedingly unstable compound, varying greatly on differ¬ 
ent days, and even on different hours of the same day. No sin¬ 
gle analysis would have any great value in showing its average 
character. In the following table, the figures of the first column 
show the average of six analyses, and the second, third and 
fourth columns show the composition of the gas taken on dif¬ 
ferent days: 


0 

1 

2 

3 

4 

Marsh gas. 

67.00 

49.58 

57.85 

75.16 

Hydrogen. 

22.00 

35.92 

9.64 

14.45 

Ethvlic hydride. 

5.00 

12.30 

5.20 

4.80 

Olefiant gas. 

1.00 

0.60 

0.80 

0.60 

Oxvgen. 

.80 

0.40 

2.10 

1.20 

Carbonic oxide. 

.60 

0.40 

1.00 

0.30 

Carbonic acid. 

.60 

0.40 

0.00 

0-30 

Nitrogen. 

3.00 

0.00 

23.41 

2.89 


It was noted, however, that those who were using the gas 
found no differences in it from day to day at all correspond¬ 
ing to the figures given above. The subject remained in this 
anomalous condition for several years, until it was again taken 
up, and this time by the Geological Survey of the State. Prof. 
Francis C. Phillips, of Western University, Allegheny, Penn¬ 
sylvania, began a series of examinations that has superseded 
entirely the results quoted above. His investigations appear 
to have been carried on in accordance with the best methods 
known to science, and his report bears upon its face the marks 
of scrupulous care and conscientious painstaking. 

The anomalous features of the results before announced all 
disappear, and Pittsburgh gas is seen to be a steady and self- 
consistent product. It agrees, very closely, in composition with 
Findlay gas, as determined by Prof. Howard, two years since. 
Both contain about 90 per cent, of hydro-carbons. The main 
difference is in the presence of a small amount of sulphuretted 
hydrogen in one, and its absence from the other. 


























110 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

A few of Prof. Phillips’s analyses are herewith given. In 
them we see, for the first time, the true constitution of the nat¬ 
ural gas of the most famous lields of the country. The analy¬ 
sis of the shale gas of Fredonia, N. Y., is added to the list: 


Constituents. 

Sheffield. 

Kane. 

Wilcox. 

Lyon’s Run, 
Murrysville. 

Fredonia, 
New York. 

Nitrogen. 

9.06 

9.79 

9.41 

2.02 

9.54 

Carbon dioxide. 

0.30 

0.20 

0.21 

0.28 

0.41 

Hydrogen. 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

Oxygen . 

Trace. 

Trace. 

Trace. 

Trace. 

Trace. 

Sulphuretted hydrogen. . 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

Paraffins. 

90.64 

90.01 

90.38 

97.30 

90.05 


The last analysis is of special interest in this connection, be¬ 
cause the gas is derived from the same formation that supplies 
the new field in Meade county, of this State. 


Fuel Value of Natural Gas. 

Whatever will burn will produce power. The value of natu¬ 
ral gas lies in the fact that it will burn, and thus generate 
power. For a standard of fuel value, we take some fixed form 
of fuel, as coal. What is natural gas worth, as compared with 
Pittsburgh coal, for example? In the following calculations, 
round numbers will be used, as it seems unnecessary to burden 
the general reader with exact figures on such a subject; more¬ 
over, the calculations made in such a way will apply fairly 
well to all the varieties of natural gas. 

Coal is sold by weight in pounds and tons. Gas is measured 
in cubic feet. What relation does a pound of coal bear to a 
cubic foot of gas? We shall best learn this relation by finding 
the heat units in each. The latter depend entirely on the chem¬ 
ical composition of the substances examined. 

One pound of Pittsburgh coal holds about 13,500 heat-units. 
We can get a better idea of what is meant by this by consider¬ 
ing that this pound, burned in one hour’s time, will prove the 
equivalent of about six horse-power. A horse-power is an 
arbitrary measure of work done. It stands for the raising of 
33,000 pounds one foot high in one minute. A ton of Pitts¬ 
burgh coal, burned in an hour, is the measure of about 12,000 
horse-power. 





























AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. Ill 

Coming now to natural gas, we find that about 15 cubic feet of 
it are theoretically equivalent to one pound of Pittsburgh coal, 
or 30,000 feet to one ton. Practically, the relation is very differ¬ 
ent. Most of the heat of the gas can be readily utilized, while 
a large but varying proportion of the heat of the coal is lost 
in the process of burning. Experience seems to show that 15 
feet of gas will, on an average, do the work of two pounds of 
coal; or, in other words, 15,000 feet of gas are the practical 
equivalent of a ton of coal, instead of 30,000 feet. There are 
gas wells that produce in 24 hours one million, five million, 
ten million, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, and, perhaps, even 
thirty million feet. The lowest well in this list would be the 
equivalent of 33 J tons of coal per day ; the highest would be 
the equivalent of 1,000 tons of coal in a day. If a ton of Pitts¬ 
burgh coal is counted worth $3.00, the production of the first 
well would be worth $100.00 in a day, and the last $3,000.00 in 

a day. 

Such figures explain very clearly why natural gas is so highly 
valued. 


Various Uses of Natural Gas. 

When gas is once obtained, to what purposes is it applied? 
The answer is, to almost all the uses in which heat is employed. 
So far, it has not been used in smelting iron ores (except to a 
very limited extent in a direct process of steel manufacture 
lately introduced), and it does not appear probable it can be 
turned to profitable account for this purpose. But there is 
scarcely another use of fuel in the districts in which it is most 
generally introduced in which it does not replace coal. A few 
of the leading applications will be enumerated. 

First in the list will be named its employment as domestic 
fuel in grates and furnaces, for warming houses, and in cook¬ 
ing-stoves and ranges. All its best properties are seen in these 
applications. It is a source of unspeakable convenience to the 
housekeeper, saving a vast amount of time and labor. The fuel 
is always at hand ; and, with intelligent management, the tem¬ 
perature of house -or stove can be held exactly at the point 
desired for any required period of time. The never-ending 


112 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

burdens of ashes and soot, that necessarily go with the burning 
of bituminous coal, all disposed of when gas becomes the fuel. 

There are some drawbacks that usually accompany the use of 
gas as household fuel; but they are not necessary to its use. 
Gas-heated houses are generally kept too warm, and the air is 
too dry in them for comfort and health. The wood-work of the 
house shrinks and warps; furniture is often injured by the dry 
heat; but none of these evils are necessary. With proper care 
all can be avoided. 

Can the use of gas as fuel be made safe ? The answer is, that 
only ordinary intelligence and care are required to make its use 
perfectly safe ; but, at the same time, it must be confessed that, 
as human nature is constituted, a larger element of danger is 
brought into the community when gas is introduced. Mixed 
with eight to ten times its volume of air, natural gas forms an 
explosive mixture, and we may be sure that in every neighbor¬ 
hood into which gas is brought there will be some one who will 
strike upon these dangerous proportions. 

Natural gas is so admirably adapted in all ways to this partic¬ 
ular use, viz.: household fuel, that it ought to be kept by every 
community that obtains it largely for this special application. 
The factories may well enough forge along on the old system. 
The comfort of life for the many is certainly to be preferred to 
the undue business advantage of the few. 

To the 'production of steam gas is also most happily adapted. 
It works to this end with extreme regularity. The flow can be 
so arranged as to regulate the steam pressure automatically. 
Boilers last longer with gas as fuel, and there is much less lia¬ 
bility to ex])losions. Great economy also results in the reduc¬ 
tion of labor in hauling and handling coal and ashes. 

Of all the applications of natural gas to manufactures, its use 
in glass-malting is, perhaps, the most successful. The perfect 
control of the heat which it allows, the freedom from dust in 
all stages of the manufacture, give to the companies that use 
the new fuel advantages which can not possibly be met by those 
who are obliged to depend on raw coal. 

In rolling-mills and steel works, in lime-burning, and in 
brick and tile manufacture, natural gas is also used with com¬ 
plete success. But all of these industries make immense 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 113 

draughts upon the gas-fields that supply them, and it would 
clearly be to the general good if they should, one and all, be 
entirely cut off from the lines. The fuel is altogether too good 
for these coarser and more common purposes, and these now 
take the lion's share of every field with which they are con¬ 
nected. If they were all relegated to producer gas or to oil- 
burning, for example, the life of the natural gas-fields would 
be greatly lengthened. 

As a source of artificial light , natural gas takes no such 
place as it does in furnishing heat; but there are great differ¬ 
ences in this respect in the gas of different fields. Its light, 
when burned in the ordinary gas-burner, generally has about 
one-half the candle power of good artificial gas. But the gas 
of some fields answers a much better purpose. 

In its use as fuel, natural gas is giving to the world a lesson 
of great value. It is demonstrating the enormous advantages 
that result from the use of gaseous, as contrasted with solid 
fuel, and it is thus preparing way for a most beneficent and 
important economic revolution, in which all of the fuel em¬ 
ployed in our cities and towns will be converted into gas before 
being burned in grate, stove, furnace or boiler. Such a result 
would lengthen immensely the life of all those accumulations of 
power with which the progress of civilization is so intimately 
connected. The stored power of the world is by no means 
inexhaustible. It is certainly inadequate to endure for more 
than a few centuries at the furthest the reckless demands and 
wanton waste to which we are now subjecting it. All the sup¬ 
plies that we now know are certain to be exhausted within the 
limits above named. Every ton of coal converted into gas 
and used under a properly regulated system will do the work 
of many tons as used at the present time. All the supplies 
of natural gas that we have thus far found, and all that 
we shall hereafter discover, will apparently be exhausted 
in a few decades at the longest. But the communities that 
have once enjoyed the luxury of gaseous fuel will never 
willingly go back to the barbarism of raw coal. The tail¬ 
ing supplies of the natural gas-wells will certainly quicken 
the process of invention and discovery in furnishing an arti- 

GEOL. SUR.—8. 


114 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

licial substitute. The work, in fact, is already well begun, and 
its consummation is, on every account, most earnestly to be 
desired. 

The Transportation of Natural Gas. 

Since 1873, when the first pipe line for the conveyance of nat¬ 
ural gas from wells, a few miles distant, was constructed, and 
especially within the last eight years, vast amounts of money 
have been expended in this line of work, and a great deal of 
valuable experience has been gained. The conveying of enor¬ 
mous volumes of gas from wells that, in some instances, have an 
initial pressure of at least 800 pounds to the square inch, in 
pipe lines, which sometimes reach well nigh a hundred miles in 
length, and its perfect distribution throughout the streets and 
dwellings of a great city for every use to whiqh fuel is applied, 
are giving rise to what may be called a new branch of mechani¬ 
cal engineering. Serious difficulties have been overcome, and 
threatened dangers have been obviated, and the problem of a 
safe and successful introduction of the new fuel can be said to 
be fully solved. 

It is not within the scope of the present chapter to give any 
extended account of this new art; but a few of the general 
facts in regard to it will be stated. 

Of what materials are the pipes which are used in the lines 
constructed ? They are made of lap-welded wrought-iron, or of 
steel, when used in the high-pressure portions of the lines. Cast- 
iron pipes of large size, twenty, thirty, forty inches in diameter, 
have been introduced of late, in good practice, on the low-pres¬ 
sure sides of pipe lines, where the pressure does not exceed ten 
pounds to the square inch. Cast-iron is too treacherous to 
admit of its safe introduction into those portions of the line 
that are exposed to the full pressure of strong wells ; but it 
must be added, that since the pressure of the Pennsylvania 
fields has fallen off materially ; cast-iron lines have been laid in 
a few instances, for the entire distance, from the wells to the 
points of consumption. 

In the construction of pipe lines, what sizes of pipes are 
employed? Naturally, the sizes vary greatly, according to the 
demand to be made upon them. They generally range from two 
to twelve inches in diameter, never falling below the former fm- 

c - 7 O 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


115 


nre, and in but few cases passing beyond the latter. The usual 
sizes range between four and ten inches. A two-inch pipe is 
inadequate to any thing but short distances and small supplies. 
There is a great advantage, especially in feeble wells, in having 
pipes of large diameter. It is to be observed that the capacities 
of pipes vary with the squares of their diameter ; for example, 
a six-inch pipe carries two and one-fourth times as much gas as 
a four-inch pipe. The practical rules, used in the distribution 
of artificial gas, may prove serviceable in this connection. 

From a pipe four times as long as another, one-half as much 
gas can be obtained, other things being equal. 

From a pipe one fourth as long as another, twice as much gas 
can be discharged, other things being equal. 

The longest gas lines in use are those which supply Buffalo, 
New York, and some of the villages of Northern Pennsylvania. 
The length of the first is about 90 miles, and of the second a 
little more than 100 miles. The gas furnished by the Buffalo 
line is not introduced into the city for general use, but is sold 
at a price that makes it regarded as somewhat of a luxury. 
The pipe line that supplies Dayton, Ohio, is more than 50 miles 
in length; the Toledo lines are nearly 35 miles in length; the 
Columbus line is 30 miles in length; the Pittsburgh lines do 
not exceed 35 miles in length. The original lines that supplied 
the city were none of them more than 20 miles long. When a 
pipe line exceeds 30 miles in length, rates for the gas, approxi¬ 
mating or exceeding the cost of coal, are to be expected. If 
the company bringing in the gas is wise, it will be very slow 
to give to iron or steel mills, or other like large consumers, a 
supply, at least, at such rates as will make it practicable for 
these establishments to use fuel from the line. 

Pipe lines should always be laid below the reach of frost. 
More or less water finds access to the line. The expansion of 
the gas, as it reaches the surface, considerably reduces the tem¬ 
perature of the pipe; and, consequently, it is an easy matter 
for any water in the line to freeze, if low atmospheric tempera¬ 
tures can affect it. 

Great difficulties and dangers were originally encountered in 
the introduction of gas into towns, arising from the enormous 
pressure of the wells; but all the trouble from this source has 


116 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

now been overcome. Regulators of various patterns have been 
invented that exercise perfect control over the flow of the 
strongest wells. The pressure is reduced to any required 
amount at any point on the line. Great ingenuity has been 
displayed in this field, and the results leave little to be de¬ 
sired. 

The increase of the pressure of weak wells, by the introduc¬ 
tion of compressors or blowers along the line, has been at¬ 
tempted in a number of instances. As the supply of a pipe 
line weakens from natural causes, it often happens that there is 
no longer force enough in the wells to send even the gas that is 
produced to its destination. Sometimes, also, the initial pres¬ 
sure of the wells is too low for what is required of them. At¬ 
tempts have been made at various points to supplement this 
low pressure by the use of pumps of the same sort as those 
employed in forcing air into deep mines. That such a re-en¬ 
forcement of pressure appears practicable to engineers and 
superintendents of pipe lines is evident, from the fact that so 
many trials have been made in this direction; but the number 
of failures resulting makes it evident also that there are some 
serious difficulties in the way. Full success, however, is 
claimed in some of these trials, and the introduction of one 
of these systems into the pipe line of the Kentucky Rock Gas 
Company, which is now bringing natural gas to Louisville, will 
be watched with great interest. 

There is a growing disposition to introduce meters into all the 
distributing systems of the natural gas companies. As is well 
known, when natural gas was first brought into use, the supply 
was abundant, and the most reckless waste was tolerated. Five 
years ago, a calculation showed that 60 million feet per day 
were burning from waste pipes connected with the Pittsburgh 
supply alone. The prices for gas at that time were fixed for 
the use required; as, for example, so much for every ton of 
iron or steel worked with gas; so much for every glass pot; so 
much for a steam boiler, with and sometimes without regard to 
its horse-power, and on the same basis prices were fixed for 
stoves, grates and furnaces. No inducement was offered to the 
users of gas to adopt economical methods. As the use of gas 
has rapidly extended, while at the same time the original sup- 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 117 

ply has been rapidly reduced, a new state of things has been 
brought about, and the gas companies are now using all means 
in their power to effect an economical consumption of fuel, and 
to avoid all forms of waste. Nothing works more efficiently in 
this direction than the introduction of meters. 

Meters are now constructed so as to be adapted to every de¬ 
mand of the new fuel; and wherever natural gas is introduced, 
it ought to be sold, from the outset, by measured volume. 

In concluding these statements in regard to the piping of 
natural gas, it needs only to be added that it is to the decided 
advantage of every town that is fortunate enough to find a sup¬ 
ply, to use only the best methods in introducing it. All the 
problems of a safe and economical distribution have been solved 
by the leading companies that are engaged in this work, and it 
is a great mistake on the part of any town to fail to avail itself 
of this experience. 

There are, it is true, many parties ready to underbid the rates 
of the great companies; but the money saved by the substitu 
tion of inferior and unskillful work will, in all probability, be 
lost several times over, in attempting to remedy the defects of 
a line laid in such a way. Indeed, the defects are generally 
irremediable, and lines of this sort are sure to be sources of 
constant annoyance, danger and waste. To provide super¬ 
vision of the entire work of piping and distributing the gas 
by a thoroughly skilled and experienced pipe-line engineer is 
the very least that can be asked of any town into which nat¬ 
ural gas is being introduced. 

Measurements of Gas Wells and Pipe Lines, 

An important subject remains to be treated in this chapter, 
namely, measurements of gas wells and pipe lines. 

It is a matter of surprise that some system of measurement, 
at once reliable and easy of application, was not originated in 
the remarkable experience of Western Pennsylvania for the 
last fifteen years. In all the buying, selling and leasing of gas 
lands and gas wells that have gone forward there, only crude, 
empirical and misleading observations were introduced into the 
transactions. In 1886, an engineer of one of the great gas com- 


118 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

panies devised a system that, for the first time, made it possible 
to approximate the production of the gas well in measured 
volume. But the process was not only one of difficult applica¬ 
tion, but it was not even made public, being reserved entirely 
for the private use of the company. It is possible that there 
are other instances of the same sort that have not chanced to 
come to light; but certain it is that in 1885, when the great gas 
wells of Northwestern Ohio were being drilled, there was no 
published system of determining the actual volume of these 
remarkable outflows. That one of two wells was larger than 
the other was made obvious by unmistakable signs; but how 
much larger was a matter of guess-work in the main ; and, as 
might be expected, estimates were very discordant. 

It is much to be regretted that this state of things existed so 
long. If measurements had been applied to the gas wells and 
gas fields in the beginning of their development, we should 
have a much better basis for our conclusions as to many inter¬ 
esting facts connected with the gas supply ; and especially as to 
its duration. Even since an adequate system of measurements 
has been promulgated, it has not been found possible to apply it 
as widely as could be desired. The companies who control the 
great gas supplies count it to their interest to hold the facts 
pertaining to the wells as business secrets; and if they them¬ 
selves have learned, with any accuracy, how these wells are 
maintaining themselves, they do not share this knowledge with 
the public at large. There is no question, however, but that it 
would be to the public interest to have all the facts on record, 
so that the true nature of the supply of the new fuel could be 
generally understood. 

The measurement of the small gas wells of the shale series 
was accomplished a score or more of years ago by the use of the 
ordinary gas meter; but such a meter was not to be thought of 
in connection with the great wells that were pouring forth mil¬ 
lions of cubic feet a day. The first attempts to ascertain the 
relative values, used in the volumes of such wells, were made 
by marking the rate of increase of pressure when the flow of 
gas from the wells was arrested. One well, for example, would 
gain a hundred pounds pressure in one minute; another well 
would require five minutes to reach the same pressure. It is 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


119 


obvious that a sort of clue to the relative volumes of the wells 
could be reached in this way; but, from such data, it is not 
possible to obtain definite information as to their production. 
The apparent relations would, in fact, be quite likely to mis¬ 
lead. 

The Use of the Anemometer in the Measurement of Gas Wells. 

The anemometer is an instrument used in determining the 
velocity of the wind and measuring the volumes of air that are 
used in the ventilation of mines and buildings. The instrument 
consists of an easily revolving wheel, which is made to register 
its revolutions. It is constructed for a certain sized orifice, 
through which the current of air must pass; as, for example, a 
square foot. If used in a larger or smaller orifice, allowance 
for this fact must be made. The time during which the wheel 
is allowed to revolve is to be carefully noted, and the volume 
for the day can be deduced from these observations. This 
instrument, if properly constructed, is admirably adapted to 
the measurement of moderate-sized wells. 

We owe the first suggestion of its use for this purpose, as 
well as the first practical application of the instrument, to 
Emerson McMillin, Esq., President of the Consolidated Gas 
Company, of St. Louis. In May, 1885, Mr. McMillin deter¬ 
mined, for the Ohio Geological Survey, by the use of this 
instrument, the daily product of the Adams well of Findlay. 
This is the first case, so far as known, in which the anemometer 
was used in measurements of this sort. 

The product of the well was found to be 1,296,000 cubic feet 
per day. The gas was escaping from the casing (5f inches in 
diameter); but a funnel-shaped box was adjusted to the casing, 
expanding at the outer extremity to an area of one square foot. 
In using the anemometer on pipes smaller than the instrument 
Itself, a funnel of a foot or two in length must be provided, 
which shall fit accurately to the delivery pipe at one end, and 
expand to the exact size of the anemometer at the other. 

Allowance must be made for the superior force of the cen- 
tral portion of the gas current. A measurement, based on the 
velocity of the central How, would be in excess of the true pro- 


120 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

duction. Judgment and experience are required in making this 
allowance. As a general thing, the largest figures that can be 
obtained are used. 

For all wells, producing a million feet or less in 24 hours, the 
anemometer, in proper hands, leaves little to be desired. Still, 
it must be remembered, it is an instrument of the same general 
character as a watch, and, like a watch, it is liable to get out of 
order. If thoroughly trustworthy results are required, the in 
strument must be frequently tested, and its rate of correc¬ 
tion determined. The anemometer, it will be observed, simply 
gives the velocity of the gas current. 

The Use of the Pitot Tube in the Measurement of Gas Wells _ 

The anemometer, as described above, answers an admirable 
purpose for a large class of wells ; but there are many wells to 
which it cannot be applied, by reason of the extreme violence 
of their flow. The gas stream of a large well goes through the 
instrument in very much the same fashion that a ball, fired 
from a Minnie rifle, would go through it. For all such wells, 
an entirely different system of measurements must be em¬ 
ployed. But one adequate system for this purpose is known, 
and that we owe, both in its theoretical statements and in its 
practical applications, to Professor S. W. Robinson, of the- 
department of Mechanical Engineering, in the State University r 
Columbus, Ohio. The investigation of the subject was taken 
up by Professor Robinson, at the instance of the Ohio Geologi¬ 
cal Survey, in 1886, and the problem was successfully worked 
out upon the famous Karg well of Findlay. This method has- 
already come into universal use. It leaves nothing to be de¬ 
sired, and can have no competitor. It is so easy of application 
that the flow of the strongest gas well ever discovered can be 
absolutely determined by observations requiring only a fraction 
of a minute. The only essential is, that access shall be given 

to the unobstructed flow of the well, either from the casing or 
tubing. 

The discussion of the theoretical principles involved is given 
at length in Professor Robinson’s formal statement of the 
method in Chapter IX, Vol. VI, Geology of Ohio. The reader, 
who desires access to the full discussion, must consult this* 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


121 


chapter. At this point, little beside the practical applications 
will be given. 

The Pitot tube obtains its name from its inventor, Pitot, who 
made it known to the French Academy in 1732. It is shown, in 
all its simplicity, in figure 1. 



Fig-. T 


As here represented, the instrument consists simply of a glass 
tube, opened at right-angles, and placed with an ox>en mouth, a 
directly presented toward the water current, while the other 
end rises above the surface at b. The water, driving against 
the open end, causes the column to rise in the branch b c to 
the height h. This height is to be used in the calculation of 
the velocity. Pitot taught that this height was simply that due 
to the velocity, V, of the current, and from this construction de¬ 
duced the law, V 2 =2 g H, g being the acceleration due to 
gravity. This formula is recognized as that belonging to falling- 
bodies. The conclusion of Pitot has been abundantly substan¬ 
tiated by later investigators. Greatly to their surprise, the in¬ 
strument has proved itself to be an instrument of precision. 
Professor Robinson was the first to extend its use from liquids 
to gases. In 1873, he applied it to the determination of the 
velocity of air-jets under compression, and he worked out at 
the same time the modification in the formula required by the 

change in the medium. 

In figure 2, the instrument is seen in a simple form, ready 
for use in a gas well. The casing is represented in section as 


















































122 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL OAS 

A. B B is a metallic tube of any convenient diameter, ground 
sharp at the lower end, which is presented to the gas current. 



C and E are pieces of rubber tube, fitting closely to the metal¬ 
lic tube B, and the glass tubes D and F. By making the rub¬ 
ber tube E several feet in length, a considerable value can be 
obtained for H. In working, the tube is to be partly filled with 
water, the level of which will, of course, be the same in both 
arms, until the force of the gas current breaks the balance and 
raises the water on the side E F. The amount of displace¬ 
ment measures the velocity of the gas stream. 

No glass tubing is required in connection with the steam 
gauge. The size of the pipe is immaterial in all these cases; 
but care must always be taken to have the end of the metal 
pipe presented to the gas stream well-sharpened by the file. In 
the use of the steam-gauge, it is always to be borne in mind 
that the instrument is very likely to give inaccurate readings, 
especially after long-continued and severe use. To insure the 
accuracy of the results, the gauge employed must be frequently 
tested, and proper allowance must be made for its errors. 

In the use of the gauge, the same caution needs to be ob¬ 
served that was given in connection with the use of the anemo- 
meter, viz: that the average of the pressures of the discharge 
pipe must be taken. Generally, the highest figure that can be 


















AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 123 

read is adopted for the entire area of the pipe. Results ob¬ 
tained in this way are always in excess of the real production. 

Three modes of measurement have now been described under 
the last head, viz.: measurement by a water column, by a mer¬ 
cury column, and by a steam gauge. The two former are to be 
preferred wherever they can be applied, as all sources of error 
can easily be avoided in their use. The water and mercury 
columns are read in inches, and the steam gauge in pounds. In 
Table I, which is to follow, no provision is made for the mer¬ 
cury column; but this is easily, and, with sufficient accuracy, 
converted into pounds by counting two inches of mercury equal 
to one pound. 

Table I, that is found below, explains itself. The pressure 
must be read in one or other of the ways that have now been 
described, and is to be found in one of the two left-hand col¬ 
umns of the table. The size of the pipe from which the gas 
flows is also indicated in the table, under a proper heading. 
By combining these two observations, the volume of the gas 
flowing from the well is read in cubic feet from the table. 

It must be observed that the volume of the gas, as reported 
in the table, is counted at 32° F. This is a commonly observed 
temperature in high-pressure wells; but, in case the temj^erature 
varies from this, calculation must be made as to the true volume 
by the use of Table II. 

* How is the temperature of the flowing gas to be determined ? 
Not by inserting the naked thermometer into the gas current, as 
is commonly done. Such a mode of procedure involves serious 
errors. The most practicable way is to make a dam of moist 
clay against or upon the delivery pipe, in which a small quan¬ 
tity of water can be held in direct contact with the pipe. The 
water will soon reach a constant temperature, and this can be 
taken as the temperature of the flowing gas. When the tem¬ 
perature is determined, correction can be made of the results 
obtained from Table I by the use of Tables II and III. These 
tables will sufficiently explain themselves. 

By the rules that have here been laid down, and by means of 
the appended tables, any intelligent person can determine the 
flow of any ordinary gas well. Still, as in other arts, there are 
many minor points that are learned by experience only, and 
that cannot be laid down in any set of directions. Where large 
interests turn on the results of measurement, it will be advisa¬ 
ble to call in experts to do the work. 

In all of the processes above described, it is assumed that the 
gas to be measured is dry gas. If either water or oil are deliv¬ 
ered with the gas, the use of the anemometer and of the steam 
gauge are excluded, and either the water or mercury column 
should be employed. There will be chances for considerable 
error under such circumstances. 


124 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


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126 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


TABLE II. 


C/1 

. 

bD t—i 

^ II 

rh ** 

GA 

Temperature of flowing gas for point observed at well mouth. 

25° 

30° 

35° 

40° 

45° 

O 

O 

55° 

60° 


.40 

.234 

.227 

.221 

.215 

.209 

.203 

.197 

.191 

Add for 

.45 

.163 

.157 

.151 

.145 

.140 

.134 

.129 

.123 

quantities 

.50 

.103 

.097 

.092 

.085 

.081 

.076 

.071 

.066 

above line. 

.55 

.053 

.007 

.047 

.002 

.042 

.037 

.032 

.027 

.022 

.017 

V_ _ J 

.60 

.003 

.008 

.013 

.018 

.023 

.027 

, -*- N 

.65 

.032 

.037 

.041 

.046 

.051 

.056 

.060 

.065 

%- m 

.70 

.068 

.073 

.077 

.081 

.086 

.091 

.095 

,099 

«S .g.£ 

.75 

.099 

.104 

.108 

.113 

.117 

.122 

.126 

.130 

r— 

> 

.80 

.128 

.134 

.140 

.143 

.145 

.149 

.153 

.158 

£ 

.90 

.178 

.184 

.189 

.192 

.194 

.198 

.202 

.206 


1.00 

.220 

.225 

.230 

.233 

.235 

.239 

.243 

.247 

3 ^ 

c n 


TABLE III. 

For Temperature of Storage of 50° F., Correction Multipliers to use the same as 

those of Table II. 


c n 

MrH* 

* II 

O.Jr 

GO 

Temperature of flowing gas for point observed at well mouth. 

25° 

30° 

35° 

40° 

45° 

50° 

55° 

60° 


.40 

.278 

.272 

.266 

.259 

.253 

.247 

.240 

.234 

Add for 

.45 

.206 

200 

.194 

.188 

.182 

.176 

.170 

.164 

quantities * 

.50 

.143 

.137 

.132 

.126 

.121 

.115 

.110 

.104 

above line. 

.55 

.091 

.085 

.080 

.075 

.069 

.064 

.059 

.053 

v -y-' 

.60 

.044 

.039 

033 

.028 

.023 

.018 

.013 

.008 


.65 

.004 

.002 

.006 

.011 

.016 

.021 

026 

031 

t -^\ 

.70 

.033 

.040 

.043 

.048 

.053 

.057 

.062 

]067 

u 

O c/i a> 

.75 

.066 

.073 

.076 

.080 

.085 

.090 

.094 

.099 

^ O £ 

■4-a 

.80 

.096 

.102 

.105 

.110 

.114 

.118 

.123 

.127 

CJ .tJ — 
oS > 

90 

.148 

.154 

.157 

.161 

.165 

.169 

.173 

.178 

Sh c t? 
g C5 C 

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.197 

.200 

.204 

i 

.207 

.211 

.215 

.219 

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AND A8PHALT KOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


127 


CHAPTER VI. 


GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE 

OF WESTERN KENTUCKY 


In making application of the facts and principles discussed 
in the foregoing chapter to the western half of Kentucky, it 
becomes necessary to furnish a brief review of the geological 
series that can take part in the origination and storage of 
petroleum and of its production within this geographical area. 
In the present chapter such a review will accordingly be under¬ 
taken, and, in connection with it, the leading facts of the geo¬ 
logical structure of the region, as at present understood, will be 
noted, involving the accidents that the strata have suffered in 
the way of uplifts, depressions, and faults during their past 
history. 


A. Geological Series of Western Kentucky . 

Dividing the State by a meridian passing through Frankfort, 
the western half of Kentucky consists of the following forma 
tions, which either make the surface of its different sections, or 
lie buried at various depths below the surface. We can be 
excused from considering, in this connection, the formations 
that still underlie those that are to be here named, as it is 
scarcely possible that such can take any important part in 
the origination of petroleum. None of these lower formations 
come to the surface within the limits of Kentucky. The forma¬ 
tions are named in descending order, and the thickness assigned 
to each is given on the authority of the Kentucky Geological 
Survey, being based on measured outcrops and on well records, 
taken from within the limits named. 

In describing briefly the character of these formations, the 
order here given will be reversed, and the lowest formation will 
be first considered. The accounts of the lower formations will 




128 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


be mainly taken from the reports of the late W. M. Linney, of 
the Kentucky Geological Survey. 



(1.) TheChazy Limestone .—This great formation, which is 

the lowest that appears in the surface rocks of the State, is 

shown only in the valleys of the Kentucky river in the central 

portion of the State, and in the districts tributary to the valley; 

•consequently it gives rise to no soils. It consists of heavy- 
• * 







































































AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


129 


bedded, compact, tough, more or less impure limestone, the range 
of which, in color, is considerable—gray, blue, and dove-colored 
tints being the prevailing ones. Sometimes a small amount of 
shale or carbonaceous matter intervenes between the layers. 
The stone is very strong, and would answer an excellent pur¬ 
pose for bridge stone, or for foundations where unusual strength 
is required. It has been used to some extent for such purposes.* 

The Chazy beds are sparingly fossiliferous. In the massive 
walls of the valleys that constitute the natural exposures, it is 
difficult to find any fossils in such a state that they' can be 
identified, but the forms found under the more favorable con¬ 
ditions are counted sufficient to establish the paleontological 
equivalence of these beds with the Chazy limestone of the New 
York scale. Among them the coiled univalve shell, Maclurea 
magna , is conspicuous in the upper portions of the beds. Other 
fossils that are counted on to establish this identification are 
Orthis costalis , Rhynchonella plena, Asaphus marginalis , 
and Leperditia Canadensis 

Whether the lowest beds of this series all belong to the age of 
the Chazy has not been definitely proved, but no lithological 
differences are found by which any divisions can be suggested. 

(#.) Bird' 1 s-eye Limestone. —A stratum of limestone in east¬ 
ern New York, belonging to the lower portion of the Trenton 
division, is characterized by the occurrence of small spots of 
crystalline limestone, which suggested the name “bird’s-eye” 
for the formation. They seem to occur as a replacement of 
marine vegetation. The same peculiarity is found well defined 
in rocks of the Kentucky scale at the same point in the geologi¬ 
cal column. The identification seems sufficiently established. It 
here consists of about 10 feet of buff or gray limestone, with 
patches of blue limestone included in it. In composition it is 
magnesian, containing from 32 to 40 per cent, of carbonate of 
magnesia. It is fine-grained and homogeneous in structure to 
such a degree that its use as a lithographic stone has been re¬ 
peatedly suggested, but good results have not yet been obtained 

*This stone, from quarries on the Kentucky river near Clay’s ferry, was used in the 
construction of the Old Capital Building at Frankfort, erected in 1836. The huff 
stone in the pediment and entablature of this portico demonstrate- the superior 
.quality and beauty of this stone for architectural purposes. J- R- p - 

GEOL. SUR. —9 



130 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

from it in this line. It makes an attractive building stone, and 
is locally known as Kentucky marble. The Old Capitol at 
Frankfort is built of it, in large part. 

Associated with this Bird’s-eye bed is a large series of fine¬ 
grained, dove-colored, brittle limestones, the beds separated 
occasionally from each other by intervening layers of shale. 
Some good courses of building stone occur in this series. The 
upper portion is characterized by cherty beds. The entire 
series owes its origin in large part to- fossils. 

(3.) Trenton Lime stone .—This series in the main consists of 
thin-bedded blue and gray limestone, but in the lower portions 
of this division there are sometimes a few feet of dark-colored, 
or blue, heavy-bedded limestone, separated by shales and marked 
by oblique lines of deposition. As the limestone and shale are 
highly bituminous, they suggest the Black river division of the 
New York scale, and are said to contain some fossils that are 
characteristic of this division. 

Mr. Linney, in his report on Mercer county, divided the 
Trenton into four main divisions, as follows : 

Upper Bird's-eye limestone. 

Granular limestone. 

Blue grass beds. 

Silicious limestone. 

The lowermost of these divisions comes in the place of the 
bituminous beds last described. The rocks belonging to it are 
impure, containing silicious and argillaceous materials in large 
quantity. They decay rapidly, and in their decay their charac¬ 
teristic chert nodules and silicious particles are set free. 

The Blue grass beds constitute the leading element of the 
Trenton limestone. These beds are separated from each other, 
to a greater or less degree, by sandy shales, and both limestone 
and shale decompose rapidly when exposed, and are converted 
into the famous soils that characterize what has long been known 
as the Blue Grass District of Central Kentucky. These soils are 
found to contain all the elements required by the growth of the 
plants that we value most, and their fertility and enduring 
qualities are proverbial. 

The rocks of this division are generally composed of rossiis. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


131 


The number and varieties are very great. With the associated 
forms above and below they exhibit one of the most characteristic 
assemblages of the life of the early world—that division of it 
called Lower Silurian being shown here at its best. It is un¬ 
necessary to occupy space with a catalogue of those that are 
already known and described. In Mr. Linney’s report on the 
rocks of Central Kentucky, 1882, an extended list is to be found. 

The granular limestone of Linney is not universally distrib¬ 
uted. It is mainly found in the Blue Grass country, occurring 
as a heavy-bedded, gray, granular limestone, which carries a 
good deal of sand in its composition. The limestone is readily 
soluble on account of its granular structure, and comparatively 
small masses of it still appear above the surface of the most 
characteristic Trenton. This limestone gives rise to caves and 
underground drains to some extent, and many strong springs 
issue from them on the outskirts of the Blue Grass District. 
They are said to occupy the place of the Capitol limestone of 
Tennessee, from which the State House at Nashville is built. 
They are locally used to supply a tire stone for chimney backs 
and jambs. 

The upper Bird’s-eye beds are by the same token, the dove- 
colored limestone of the Nashville series of Safford. The beds 
of this division closely resemble the formations several hundred 
feet below them which have been already described. They are 
fine-grained, brittle, pure in composition, and take a fine polish. 
This particular series Is by no means of universal occurrence, 
but still its presence in the scale deserves to be noted. These 
beds do not weather into soils as easily as those that underlie 

them. 

(4.) Hudson River Group .—There should be found in the 
geological column, at this point in the scale, place for a division 
that is not distinctly identified in the Kentucky series, viz., the 
Utica shale. This is, however, pre-eminently a northern forma¬ 
tion. It extends across the whole breadth of New York, and is 
also well developed in Pennsylvania. In the underground 
geology of Northern Ohio it has been found to take an im¬ 
portant part, but followed southward through this State, it is 
seen to lose its thickness and distinctive characteristics below 
the parallel of Springfield. In Southern Ohio, it seems to be 


132 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

represented by a stratum of dark blue limestone, interstratified 
with dark blue shale, and not more than 40 to 60 feet in thick¬ 
ness. No equivalent of this bed is reported from Kentucky, 
and it is probable, therefore, that the interval is lost here by 
overlap of the Hudson river beds. 

The last named formation has an important development in 
Kentucky, both in thickness and the extent in which it con¬ 
stitutes the surface rocks of the State. This series is divided by 
Mr. Linney into three divisions, viz., lower, middle and upper, 
but it is unnecessary to insist on these divisions in this review. 
The entire series consists of interstratified limestone and cal¬ 
careous shales, all crowded with organic remains. Sometimes a 
mass ten to twenty feet in thickness will be found, consisting 
almost entirely of one sort of coral or shell. In thickness, the 
limestone beds vary from an inch or two to a foot or two. The 
thinner beds are often separated from each other by a few 
inches of shale, the thicker beds being succeeded by several feet 
of shale. Different portions of the series have different com¬ 
positions, so far as the proportions of limestone and shale are 
concerned. 

The series gives rise in its decomposition to highly productive 
lands. It forms soils readily and renews itself perpetually, 
even on steep hill-sides, but in such stations the resulting soils 
are generally stony. 

(5 .) The Upper Silur ian and Devonian Limestones. —The lime - 
stones representing these two important divisions of geological 
time are named together in this enumeration, for the reason that 
it is difficult to draw a boundary line between them. The lower 
portion of the series contains beds that are unmistakably of 
Niagara age, while the reference of the uppermost beds to the 
Corniferous period of Devonian time is equally clear and un¬ 
equivocal. When the middle portion of the column is studied, 
however, as in the immediate vicinity of Louisville, it becomes 
evident that there is a complete intermingling of the most 
characteristic forms of both divisions. This is especially true 
of the fossil corals. It is evident, therefore, that the life of the 
Upper Silurian was continued without interruption at these 
points until Devonian time had begun. It cannot, therefore, 
be proper to name the rocks of this period Niagara, even though 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


133 


they contain characteristic Niagara forms; they must rather 
represent the Lower Helderberg series. 

The most interesting member of the series, economically 
considered, is the famous Louisville cement rock, which belongs 
near the center of the combined series of limestones. It con¬ 
sists of a stratum eight to ten feet in thickness in which sand 
and clay are naturally mingled with the lime which makes the 
bulk of the mass, in such proportions as to form, when burned 
at proper temperatures, a natural cement. The business of 
manufacture is large and strong in every way, and Louisville is 
by far the greatest center of natural cement manufacture in the 
United States. 

The scientific interest of this formation is as pronounced as 
its economic interest. The corals that the Devonian division 
contains are preserved in wonderful perfection, the skeletons 
being silicious, so that the inclosed rock can be removed by 
treatment in acids. It is safe to say that the Devonian corals 
in the collections of Louisville, and especially in the magnifi 
cent collection of Major W. J. Davis, surpass in perfection of 
preservation any fossils of this group and age that have been 
obtained in any other portion of the world. The Devonian 
limestone is a source of oil and gas at a few points in the 
country, and notably at Terre Haute, Indiana. 

(6.) The Black Shale .—'This extremely well characterized 
formation makes a much more important element in the geolo¬ 
gical scale of the State than its area and thickness would lead 
us to expect. Its thickness does not exceed 100 feet, at least 
in the western half of the State, and its area is consequently of 
small size. The formation, however, gives rise to very numerous 
outcrops. It is well shown at New Albany, Indiana, opposite 
Louisville, and at countless points through the central counties. 

The black shale is a part of a very widely extended formation. 
Its largest development in outcrop is in those portions ot Ohio, 
Pennsylvania and New York that crop out on the shore of Lake 
Erie, between the mouth of the Huron river in Ohio, and 
Eighteen-mile Creek in New York. The shale formation has 
a thickness in this district of 1,200 to 1,500 feet. Under co^ei 
in the Ohio Valley it reaches twice the figures given above. 

A three-fold division of the series, as it is shown in Ohio, has 
been urged by Professor Newberry, the seveial members being 


134 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

respectively designated the Huron, Erie, and Cleveland shales. 
Professor Newberry draws the line between Devonian and Car¬ 
boniferous time at the base of the last named division. To 
other geologists it seems decidedly preferable to count the en¬ 
tire shale series as belonging to the Devonian division. There 
was evidently no great change in the physical geography of the 
division, wherever it is found, during the entire period of its 
deposition. 

What portion of the great shale series of Ohio is it that is 
continued into Kentucky, or is the entire series reduced and 
represented in the thin division which we are now considering ? 
The answer is clear and positive. It is the uppermost division 
of tlie scale, and is probably all included in Newberry’s Cleve¬ 
land shale. This is proved by its fossils, which, though not very 
abundant, are exceedingly interesting. The skeletons of the 
great fishes of this period constitute its most striking forms of 
ancient life. 

This formation is especially interesting in connection with gas 
and oil springs that occur along the line ©f its outcrops across 
the State ; and it is also found a source ©f these substances when 
it descends below moderate cover, as has been recently proved 
on the large scale in the gas well of Meade county. When f©und 
in an unweatliered condition, it everywhere contains a consider¬ 
able amount of desseminated petroleum. In addition to its 
bituminous contents, it also contains a notable percentage of 
organic matter that has passed through the anthracitic or coaly 
transformation. 

(7.) Tlie Keokuk Series , or Knob stone Grewp. —As shown in 
the New Albany section, this considerable division is made up 
largely of shale or mudstone. Towards the upper portion 
sandstone courses occur to a considerable extent, and probably 
some limestone beds are also included within its limits. This 
series is the equivalent of the Waverly group of Ohio, the 
lowermost 250 feet representing the Cuyahoga shale, and the 
upper or sandstone beds the Logan group. The most character¬ 
istic fossils of these two divisions are the same in both States, 
viz: Conularia, in the lower beds, Hemipronites crenistriatus 
and Productus semi-reticulatus in the upper. The shales are 
the most characteristic part of the series, and in the exploration 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 135 

that has been carried on in the State for oil and gas they are 
easily identified when their horizon is reached. The soils 
derived from this formation are, as a rule, very thin and poor.'* 

(8.) The St. Louis Group , or Mountain Limestone .—This 
great series of limestones, lying at the heart of the Sub-carbonif¬ 
erous division, constitutes one of the most important elements 
in the surface of Western Kentucky. Hundreds of admirable 
natural sections occur in the escarpments of Muldraugh’s Hill. 
The series consists of limestone beds interstratified with calcare¬ 
ous shales. The proportions vary greatly. Many of the lime¬ 
stone courses are massive, and they also show false bedding to 
an unusual degree for limestones. The base of the series is 
everywhere marked by the presence of the well-known coral, 
Lithostrotion canadense , and also by abundant and easily 
recognized cherty concretions or nodules. A massive oolite of 
great economic importance as a quarry stone may be taken as 
practically the upper boundary. The St. Louis division gives 
rise to soils of unequal value in different portions of its extent • 
but the red lands derived from the decomposition of its upper¬ 
most beds are remarkable for their fertility, ranking among the 
very best lands of the State. 

The solubility of the limestones of this section of the scale is 
attested not only by the abundant soil that results from their 
decay, but also, and especially, by the underground drainage 
channels that have been established in them. It was known 
in the early geological work of the State as the cavernous lime¬ 
stone , because of this fact. The most striking examples of these 
underground channels are to be found in the famous caves of 
the Green River Valley, including the Mammoth Cave. 

( 9 .) The Chester Group.— Separating the mountain limestone 
series from the coal measures, a group of sandstones, shales and 
limestones occurs that it is difficult to characterize and describe 
because of its changeable composition. The most prominent 
-elements in the series are two or more heavy sandstones, one of 
which attains a maximum thickness of 150 feet, and which ranges 
from 60 to 100 feet in long lines of outcrop. It is known in the 

*The upper member of this group is more calcareous to the Southwest, producing a 
better soil than that derived from the shales and sandstones of the Waverly in 
Eastern Kentucky, where the limestone members are very thin or absent. J. R. P. 



136 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


Kentucky Reports as the Big Clifty sandstone. A section taken 
in the banks of Big Clifty, four miles from Grayson Springs 


Station, near the Pearl Ford, is as follows: 

Upper Chester sandstone, thin bedded and shaly.30 feet, seen. 

Chester limestone with Archimedes , Pentremites and Oolite.36 ‘ ‘ 

Big Clifty sandstone, massive and uneven bedded.76 * * 

St. Louis limestone, blue, fossiliferous.15 “ seen.. 


A section of the Chester series at Tar Spring, south of Clover- 
port, Breckinridge county, as represented in Vol. I of the Re¬ 
ports of the Kentucky Survey, is as follows: 


Limestone.25 feet.. 

Shale.15 “ 

Thin limestone. 1 ‘ * 

Shale, upper part marly. 8 “ 

Limestone, very silicious.10 “ 

Dark shale. 11 ‘ ‘ 

Limestone. 4 ‘ ‘ 

Shale. 6 “■ 

Green marly shale.14 ‘‘ 

Shale.25 “ 

Covered‘space.20 “■ 

Sandstone.25 ‘ ‘ 

Covered, probably sandstone. 15 < < 

Limestone.25 “ 

Covered, limestone seen at intervals.. < < 

Red and green marly shale. 4 «t 

Covered space.25 “ 


Sandstone at base . 278 ‘‘ 


This formation, when well developed, gives rise to bold and 
rugged features, and, as a rule, the soils derived from it are- 
thin, excepting those derived from the limestones above the 
massive sandstone. 

(10.) The Coal Measures .—This system is composed of shales, 
clays, marls, sandstones and limestones interstratified with 
seams of coal, the latter constituting but a small proportion of 
the entire series. It is not necessary to attempt an analysis of 
this complicated division. So far as known, the only element 
of it likely to be concerned in petroleum accumulation, is the 
massive sandstone which lies at its base and which is known as 
the Carboniferous Conglomerate. This sandstone has the 



























AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 137 

general characteristics of the great Chester sandstone named in 
the preceding paragraph, and, like it, is a massive formation. 

The soils derived from the coal measures are decidedly inferior 
in quality to those derived from the St. Louis limestone, as a 
rule, but there are some districts in Western Kentucky in which 
coal measures land shows great excellence. An example is 
found in the soils of Union county, which take rank with the 
best in the State. 

B. Geological Structure of Western Kentucky. 

A few paragraphs must suffice in this connection for the dis¬ 
cussion of the subject to which the present section is devoted. 
The subject is in reality a large and difficult one, and an ade¬ 
quate treatment of it would involve a large amount of labor in 
field and office not only, but a large amount of text and illus¬ 
tration as well. When properly worked out, the facts will be 
found to include all the great divisions of Paleozoic time, in¬ 
cluding the Lower Silurian, Upper Silurian, Devonian, Sub- 
carboniferous, and Carboniferous ages, and the history will be 
co-extensive with the history of this entire portion of the 
Mississippi Valley. 

The geological work herewith reported gave no opportunity 
for original investigation in such subjects as these. In the 
nature of the case, it was even impossible to acquaint one’s self 
with all the facts already gained by the geologists who have 
devoted much patient study to the several divisions of the field. 
A few general statements can be made, however, that will ren¬ 
der the subsequent discussions more intelligible, and, in 
addition, a few details in regard to the most striking lines of 
uplift in Western Kentucky will be given. 

The order of succession of the several formations that consti¬ 
tute the surface rocks of the western half of the State, indicate 
clearly the underlying structure, so far as its leading features 
are concerned. The central counties are occupied by the Lower 
Silurian limestones. On the western edge of this formation, in 
Trimble, Oldham, Jefferson, Bullitt, Nelson and Marion counties, 
an outcropping band of Upper Silurian and Devonian limestones 
is found, varying in breadth from five to twenty miles. The* 
surface rocks of this division have no greater geographical eleva- 


138 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


tion than the older beds upon which they rest. Their presence, 
:herefore, makes it certain that a westerly dip has set in, carry¬ 
ing these older rocks under cover. 

The occurrence of the narrow outcrop of the Black or Ohio 
shale, which succeeds the limestone belt above described, bears 
out and extends this conclusion. And so, also, does each 
succeeding division of the great Sub-carboniferous system which 
constitutes the surface rocks of the next two or three counties 
to the westward. The Sub-carboniferous limestone, in turn, 
dips below the coal measure rocks that cover, in whole or in part, 
sixteen counties of the State, constituting the western coal field. 
From beneath these rocks the last named division rises again to 
the surface, to the west of the Trade water V alley. This western 
coal field is thus seen to present the unmistakable features of a 
basin or broad syncline. 

From the southern tier of counties of this part of the State 
the rocks are seen, by inspection of the geological map ac¬ 
companying this report, to descend to the northward. The 
coal measures that overlie the Sub-carboniferous limestone, 

* which occupies this southern tier, require such a descent of the 
latter to explain their occurrence. Their entire thickness of 
one thousand feet does not bring the surface of this area to any 
higher level than the underlying rocks attain in their respective 
outcrops. The general section on the State map, from the 
Mississippi river to the mouth of the Big Sandy, represents the 
facts to which attention has now been called. 

t 

Throughout the entire area that is under consideration there 
is no part of the surface that attains an elevation of one thou¬ 
sand feet above tide,* and very few points, if any, that rise 
to a level of 800 feet above tide. The descent or dip of the 
strata is in keeping with this elevation. It does not, as a rule, 
exceed 20 to 30 feet to the mile. Through the Ohio Valley, the 
direction of the dip is apparently south-west. This direction 
presents an unexpected confirmation of the surprising fact dis¬ 
covered in the Ohio and Indiana gas field, viz.: that the main 
line of uplift of the Cincinnati axis bears to the north west, in- 

*In the south-eastern part of the field under discussion, in Russell, Wayne and! 
Clinton counties, a few points attain an elevation of more than 1,000 feet above 
tide. J. R. p. 


























03 ' 



































GENERAL SECTION FROM FRANKFORT TO OWENSBORO. 


Conventions: 

L,_CARBONIFEROUS. 

K,_CHESTER. 

j,_ST. LOUIS. 

_KEOKUK. I 

H,_WAVERLY. ) 

G,_DEVONIAN. 

F,_UPPER siluria: 

E,_HUDSON RIVER. 

D,_TRENTON L. 3. 

C,_BIRDSEYE. 

B,_CHAZY. 

A,.CALCIFEROUS. 


HORIZONTAL SCALE, 10 MILES — 1 INCH. VERTICAL SCALE, 2000 F. = 1 INCH. 




















































AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


139 


stead of to the north-east, as previously believed. The facts 
already stated show that the direction of the dip cannot be 
uniform throughout the entire territory, and even where the 
direction is maintained, the rate is found to change abruptly in 

some places. 

The account thus far given sets before us a territory of some¬ 
thing more than ten thousand square miles, the structural 
features of which seem exceedingly simple. The main feature 
in this connection is a gentle dip to the south-west from the 
great Lower Silurian area of Central Kentucky, which is com¬ 
monly known in geology as the Cincinnati anticline. A sag or 
depression in the western portion of this district gave rise to 
the coal basin of Western Kentucky. 

All of these movements of elevation and depression, as thus 
far stated, seem to have been of the continental type. That is, 
they were of low intensity, were continued through long periods 
of time, and involved large areas in the same movement. There 
is nothing in them of well-marked axes of elevation, such as 
result in the formation of mountain ranges. 

If we could stop here, it would be impossible to justify the 
remark with which this section was introduced, viz.: that a 
considerable complication of structure is to be found in Western 
Kentucky. But we cannot stop here. Simple as its geology 
appears, and small as any of its surface elevations are found to 
be, a more careful examination shows that the rock series of 
Western Kentucky is traversed by many extensive and deep- 
seated fractures, and that these fractures are, in numerous 
instances, accompanied by the dislocations of the strata which 
are termed faults. While none of these faults are of very great 
vertical extent, they are still large enough to add considerable 
complication to the record, and to present problems in the 
identification of strata in many instances for which our present 
knowledge is not fully adequate. 

The accompanying section, constructed by Prof. R. H. Lough- 
ridge, between Frankfort and Owensboro, represents one of 
these faults cutting the strata at Hawesville, Hancock county. 
It was brought to light in the working of the coal seams that 
are present in the series at this point. The amount of this 


140 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


displacement is supposed to be about 90 feet. The direction 
and horizontal extent of the fault have not been followed out as 
yet. 

Again, in Livingston, Crittenden and Caldwell counties, there 
are several well-marked and extensive fractures, accompanied 
with frequent dislocations of the series. These fractures are 
occupied in part by considerable deposits of fluor-spar, through 
which lead ores, and, to a smaller extent, zinc ores are sparingly 
disseminated. These masses of spar constitute true fissure 
veins, their contents being undoubtedly derived from deep 
sources. Considerable expenditures have been made in these 
counties in the development of these veins in the search for* 
lead, especially in the vicinity of Smithland, Livingston county. 
Thus far no returns have been obtained from such investments. 

Another, and a much more important line of disturbance than 
either of those already noted, extends across a half dozen coun¬ 
ties from Grayson Springs to Shawneetown, in the Ohio Valley. 
It is not less than 100 miles in length. Its general direction is 
north 80 to 82 degrees west. While the disturbance along this 
general line has not been strictly proved to be continuous, there 
seems good reason for believing that it is so practically, but the 
line certainly does not pursue a straight course. It has been 
recognized by all the geologists who have worked in the western 
field. Dr. Owen gave considerable attention to it in his reports, 
and he recognized the points already named as probably be¬ 
longing to a single line of uplift. 

No name has thus far been applied to the entire series, but 
saveral of the most marked areas of disturbance have been con¬ 
nected in designation with the localities where they occur. The 
famous Grayson Springs owe their existence to an extensive 
fault that is found in this line. Leitchfield shows a well-marked 
line of uplift without distinct fracture or fault. From the cross¬ 
ing of the Spring Fork of Rough creek, on the road from 
Leitchfield to the Falls of Rough, the strata are much disturbed. 
At the Sulphur Springs, in Ohio county, uplifts and faulting 
both occur, and the springs undoubtedly derive their strong 
sulphur water from a considerable depth. At many points in 
and near the valley of Rough creek, within the limits of Ohio 
county, these disturbances are well-marked. The line can be 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


14 ] 


traced, in fact, across the entire county with perfect distinctness, 
The disturbance can be followed through McLean county, still 
further west, by several exposures of broken stratification, the 
most striking of which occurs in the valley and vicinity of Long 
Falls creek, three miles north of Calhoun. The break is less 
distinctly marked in this county, however, than in any other in 
the line. The Sub-carboniferous limestones are here thrust up 
to the level of the coal measures. At Sebree, in Webster 
county, one of the most striking exposures of the uplift is to be 
found. Again, at the Highland Lick, on the west margin of 
Webster county, a striking exhibition of the same disturbed 
structure is found. Further westward still better and more con¬ 
tinuous exhibitions of uplift occur. The Chalybeate Hills to 
the south-east of Morganfield, and the Bald Hills to the west of 
the town, furnish together several miles of rocks, outcropping at 
high angles, and rising above the general level of the country in 
elevations recalling, though not equaling, mountain structure. 
Finally, at the famous locality known as “The Rocks,” in 
the Ohio Valley, opposite Shawneetown, Illinois, the same dis¬ 
turbed condition of the strata appears in very striking form. 

Probably the best name to apply to the entire line is that by 
which one of the more important sections is now designated, 
viz.: the Rough Creek Anticline. 

How much influence a break in the stratification, of the kind 
here described, would have upon petroleum or gas accumula 
tion, is an interesting question. There are portions of the line 
in which all the requirements of geology would seem to be met, 
so far as the structure is concerned ; and the results of the tests, 
that are to go forward in these districts, will prove instructive 
in a high degree. In the most disturbed portions of the uplift 
drilling could not be advised; in fact, it would be found im¬ 
practicable to drill in hard limestone strata that are pitched at 
angles of 15 to 30 degrees. But, upon the borders of the uplift, 
it is certainly possible, and almost probable, that favorable con¬ 
ditions would be found. * 

Traversing the district, which the monotonous dip to the 

* At Leitchfield and a few other points along the uplift, the rocks are hori¬ 
zontal immediately on the axis of the anticline, and afford favorable conditions for 

.drilling. J * R * P * 



142 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

southwestward, already named, has been shown to characterize, 
there are more or less minor arches or terraces interrupting the 
irregularity of the descent. In a single important instance ac¬ 
count has been taken of this feature in the location of a gas- 
field, and other more or less successful gas-wells attest the 
presence of favorable structure of this sort that is not distin¬ 
guishable, or, at least, that has not been distinguished in the 
surface rocks. 

The general structural features of the portion of the State 
included in this report, so far as these facts are at present 
known, have now been very briefly pointed out. In the suc¬ 
ceeding and final chapter, a brief history of the development 
of petroleum and its products at the present date will be at¬ 
tempted. 


i 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


143 


CHAPTER VII. 


THE PRODUCTION OF PETROLEUM AND ITS DERIVA 
TIVES IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


The universal distribution of petroleum and its derivatives, 
including natural gas, asphalt and mineral tar, throughout the 
stratified rocks of the Paleozoic scale, which was asserted in the 
earlier chapters of this report, is abundantly demonstrated in 
the surface rocks of Western Kentucky. Practically but two 
divisions of the geological scale constitute the surface rocks of 
this entire territory, viz.: the Sub-carboniferous and the Car¬ 
boniferous divisions. Both of these series, but especially the 
former, abound in one or another form of petroleum. The 
great sandstones of the Chester division, and the massive con¬ 
glomerate that underlies the coal-fields, furnish the most im¬ 
portant examples of this accumulation; but it is impossible to 
go amiss of the facts that fall under this head, especially in the 
first named of these groups of surface rocks. In the coal meas¬ 
ures proper there is, however, comparatively little evidence of 
any notable amount of bituminous production, outside of the 
coal seams and black shales that they contain. But the sur 
face rocks can, with more or less ease, be pierced by the drill; 
and thus the characteristics of the underlying strata, an account 
of which, in their proper geological older, is contained in the 
preceding chapter, can be tested, so far as this line of sub¬ 
stances is concerned. When these tests are applied, each of the 
following underlying divisions, viz.: the Devonian shale, the 
Devonian and Upper Silurian limestones and the Hudson river 
group, has been proved, in some part of its extent, to be petrol¬ 
iferous in an important sense. 

The accumulations referred to consist of petroleum proper 
and of the gas derived from it on the one side, and at the other 
extreme, of the tar and asphalt that result from its oxidation. 




144 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

These last named substances are in all cases found in the out¬ 
cropping rocks of the scale. The gas and oil are the products 
of the strata under cover when reached by the drill. 

These several divisions of the geological series of the State, in 
their relations to the varied forms of bituminous production 
named above, will be briefly considered in the following pages. 
As far as practicable, they will be treated in their proper geolog¬ 
ical order, the older or lower strata being named first; but there 
are some fields in which more than one division is found pro¬ 
ductive, and in describing these we shall be obliged to pass from 
one formation to another. It will, accordingly, be best to treat 
of the production with reference to the geographical bound¬ 
aries. 

The Cumberl and County Oil Field. 

A small area in southern Kentucky holds a prominent place 
In the history of the petroleum production of the continent. 
At Burksville, Cumberland county, in the valley of the Cum¬ 
berland river, the first great flowing fountain of oil ever opened 
in this country was struck in 1829. The well giving rise to it 
was drilled for salt water, and was begun and finished in strata 
of the Hudson river age. The well was but 300 feet in depth, 
but it proved to be possessed of great energy, and it made a 
remarkable impression upon the country at large. It was, at 
the time, counted one of the wonders of the new world. The 
drilling tools were lifted out of the well by the force of the gas, 
and a column of oil was thrown to the top of the trees around 
the derrick. The stream flowed away from the well into the 
Cumberland river near by, and covered the surface of the river 
for many miles. In the course of a few days this film of oil 
was accidentally ignited at a point about forty miles below 
Burksville, and the flames spread rapidly along the surface of 
the water, presenting the astonishing sight of a river on fire. 
The trees along the banks were scorched and killed, and great 
alarm was experienced throughout the entire region. The 
quantity of oil that escaped must have been large, but it is vain 
to attempt to estimate it in exact terms. The phenomenon was 
altogether unfamiliar, and no proper standards of comparison 
were possessed by any of the observers by which they could be 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 145 

raided in gauging the surprising production. The lire upon the 
surface of the river continued to burn as long as the flow of oil 
was maintained from the well, but this ceased in about three 
weeks. The well still remained full of oil, and many years 
afterwards, when a somewhat more intelligent interest in regard 
to petroleum was beginning to be developed, pumping was 
resorted to for the purpose of obtaining as much oil as could 
still be secured, the product being bottled and sold extensively 
through the State for medicinal use under the name of “ Ameri¬ 
can Oil.” At Burksville, as already stated, the Hudson river 
rocks constitute the surface. All along the margins of the 
valley the Upper Silurian limestones make their appearance, 
and a little higher the Devonian slate is found with its well- 
marked and persistent characteristics. 

A good deal of drilling was done in and around Burksville 
after the modern period, in the development of petroleum, had 
been entered upon; but nothing at all comparable with this 
early experience was then encountered, though small oil-wells 
were found in numerous cases. 

Whether the stratum that served as a reservoir in this case 
was a limestone or a sandstone has not been brought to light. 
There are occasional courses of sandstone in the Hudson river 
series of this part of the country that might, under favorable 
conditions, prove to be oil rocks. The structure necessary for 
production is manifestly to be found here, the entire Lower 
Silurian area of the valley being the eroded summit of a low 
axis of elevation. 

The earlier promise of the geological series, now undei con¬ 
sideration, has never been fulfilled, and no delinite lioiizons of 
oil or gas have been made known in it by any of the explora¬ 
tions that have been carried forward or that are now in progiess, 
though small production has been obtained at several other 
points from rocks of the same age. 

The Allen County Wells. 

The later history of petroleum, as has been previously 
shown, goes back to the year 1855. During the five succeed¬ 
ing years, rock oil was making its way to general recognition, 
especially among the Northern States, as a valuable addition to 

GEOL. SUR.— 10 


146 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

our available sources of artificial light. The general conditions 
under which it had thus far been found were made familiar 
to all well-informed persons in the parts of the country from 
which it was derived. The possible clews to its presence in the 
rocks that were furnished by “surface indications,” so called, 
were also understood in a general way. The Civil War broke 
out at this time, and during the next four years there were 
many persons connected with the Federal armies passing across 
Kentucky, whose interest in petroleum production had been 
already awakened, and who, consequently, were sure to notice 
all the oil and gas springs along their various routes, and who 
also gathered up more or less of the traditions of the country 
in regard to these substances, as they had been brought to light 
in the search for salt water during previous years. When the 
war was over the results of these observations were to be seen in 
an invasion of Kentucky by representatives of the rapidly grow 
ing oil interests of the country, and drilling was begun at many 
points with great energy, and with large expenditure of money, 
most of which came from the Northern oil fields. The shrewd 
prospector saw, or thought he saw, many a new oil field among 
the secluded valleys of Southern Kentucky, and made haste to 
secure for himself a proper share of the wealth that lay hidden 
here. The period was one of great speculative excitement. 
The prospector was, by no means, a trained observer. Slight 
and unimportant resemblances to the productive oil fields of 
the East were seized upon and magnified into sure promises of 
fortune. An oil seep or a feeble gas spring was regarded as an 
infallible guide to a new Oil Creek. 

Of this varied and enthusiastic exploration there remain 
but small, and, in the main, unimportant results. Not a sin¬ 
gle valuable oil field was brought to light by all this outlay of 
money and energy. Even the records of the work done have 
been mainly lost, or, surviving only in the traditional form, 
they have already become indistinct and unreliable. 

One of the districts that attracted great attention at the time, 
and that was counted of unusual promise, was the central por¬ 
tion of Allen county. Oil springs had been known in the re¬ 
gion from the occupation of the country. They generally occur 
in the lower part of the St. Louis limestone. One spring of 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


147 


this character is found in the valley of the Trammel Fork of 
Drake’s Creek, a branch of Barren river. It is located on the 
A. S. Walker land, a few miles to the south-west of Scottville. 
The oil of this spring had long been collected in a small way, 
after the Indian fashion, by spreading a blanket over the 
surface of the spring and by wringing out the oil that was thus 
absorbed. A few barrels were saved every year in this crude 
way. The Younglove Brothers, druggists of Bowling Green, 
bought a barrel of the oil some time before 1850 and shipped it 
to Pittsburgh. The oil was prepared for the market by putting 
it up in pint bottles, and it found a ready sale throughout the 
country, as already noted, for an external application in the 
case of wounds of both man and beast. A few barrels only of 
the oil from this region found their way to the regions outside. 
Another oil spring was known on Little Trammel creek, near 
what is now designated as Petroleum Station. 

During the war, while the Confederate army had possession 
of Bowling Green, fifteen miles to the north-west, account was 
taken of these native sources of oil, and all that could be got 
was wagoned across the country and shipped to Memphis. It 
would appear that several shallow wells were drilled near the 
spring at this time, each of them yielding, daily, live to six 
barrels of heavy oil, but the accounts as to these occurrences 
are not entirely clear. The wells are said to have been from 
600 to 700 feet deep. 

At the close of the war, the district in which these oil springs 
were situated was leased by “prospectors” on the large scale 
for drilling purposes; but nothing more important than the 
results already named was secured, except in the single locality 
next to be described. 

The Uriah Porter farm, three miles to the west of Scottville, 
was long counted the finest and best improved farm of Allen 
county. It consisted of a thousand acres of land, much of it 
highly productive. In 1866 or ’67, Mr. Porter and his sons 
began the drilling of a well in the search for oil, in the bottom 
lands to the south-west of the residence. At a depth variously 
reported in the traditions of the country, the range of the figures 
being between 75 and 300 feet, and the smallest iigure being 
obviously nearest the facts, a flow of oil of extraordinary volume 


148 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

for this region was found. The production of the well was 
estimated by people who had never seen an oil well before, as 
500 barrels, 300 barrels, 200 barrels, 100 barrels per day. Large 
abatements from such estimates are generally required. At the 
outset some oil was wasted, but provision was forthwith made 
for the flow, and a total production of the well of not less than 
a hundred barrels, and probably twice or three times this amount, 
was secured. The oil was shipped to Louisville and St. Louis 
for refining, but it was rank with sulphur and could not be 
deodorized by the means then at the refiner’s command, and it 
was therefore counted of no value. Transportation was also 
very expensive, no railroad being reached within 15 miles. The 
horizon from which this well obtained its supply must have 
been the Keokuk group of the Sub-carboniferous age. 

This well naturally caused great excitement in the county 
and the surrounding region. It is said that an offer of a hun¬ 
dred thousand dollars was made by responsible parties for the 
farm, and that this amount was refused. Two other wells were 
drilled by Mr. Porter, but both of them were failures. Another 
well was drilled in the vicinity upon the Mottley land, but it 
also was unproductive. The Younglove Brothers, already 
named, bought a tract near the Porter farm, and, in connec¬ 
tion with others drilled a well several hundred feet in depth. 
A little gas and a little oil were found, but no value was de¬ 
veloped in the well. On the Ham farm, one mile above Por¬ 
ter’s, gas was struck, and its force was sufficient to blow the 
tools out of the wells, according to a tradition that still remains 
here. 

These accounts seem to exhaust the earlier history of the dis¬ 
trict with respect to petroleum. A new chapter begins with 
1887. Drilling was once more resumed in the country and 
along the lines that had been already tested. The immediate 
impulse to these new tests came from the wonderful develop¬ 
ment of gas and oil in the Trenton limestone of Northern Ohio 
and Central Indiana. The possibility that this great stratum, 
which is known to underlie Western Kentucky, and, as a rule, 
within easy striking distance, contained like accumulations of 
stored power, proved enough to attract once more the oil inter¬ 
ests of the country ; or, at least, to stimulate local enterprise to 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 149 

make the search for this form of mineral wealth. During the 
last three years a considerable amount of drilling has gone for¬ 
ward in this general region, and preparations have been made 
for more, and in the large way, by leasing lands in large blocks. 
At least one new well has been sunk in Allen county during 
this time. The traditions of the Porter farm led its present 
owner, Col. E. L. Mottley, of Bowling Green, in 1887, to locate 
a new test well within sixty feet of the flowing well of 1866. 
The work was done by the American Well Drilling Company, 
of Louisville. At 400 feet a show of oil was found, but the 
amount was not subsequently increased, though the drilling was 
continued to 1,300 feet. There was absolutely no value found 
in the series at this point. The Trenton limestone must have 
been passed through in the descent. 

The Barren County Wells. 

Under this section the largest oil field of the Western half of 
the State, but still a very small oil field, comes into view. A 
few wells producing gas in small or moderate amount are also 
to be credited to this county at the present time. In addition 
to these facts, it must be noted that Barren county is the center 
of the new interest which is carrying forward, with considera¬ 
ble expenditure of time and money, the search for a new oil 
field in Western Kentucky. 

The early history of the Barren county oil field agrees closely 
with that of Allen county, already related. There is a circum¬ 
stantial account current to the effect that soldiers of the Union 
army of Pennsylvania returned to Glasgow immediately after 
the war to follow up the “surface indications,” which they had 
previously noted in this vicinity. An oil spring on Boyd’s 
Creek, four and one-half miles southeast of Glasgow, was one 
of the most significant of these indications, and the first well 
was drilled in the immediate vicinity of the spring. Oil was 
obtained at a shallow depth in promising quantity. Some of 
the wells drilled between 1866, when the work was begun, and 
1868, proved to be flowing wells, and one is credited with pro¬ 
ducing 100 barrels of oil per day for some time. 

These wells, and others that were afterwards put down around 
them, constitute an oil field of small proportions, it is true, but 


150 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAb 

as it lias proved, of unusual persistency and of demonstrated 
value. From 1866 to the present time the field has maintained 
a fairly steady, though small, production. The oilis black, and 
its specific gravity is 40 to 42 degrees B. It does not contain an 
excessive amount of sulphurous compounds, and in fact is not 
offensive by reason of the presence of such substances, unless 
the process of distillation is pushed too far. The oil is derived 
from a stratum that lies about 170 feet below the valley level. 
The surface rocks at this point are the lowest beds of the Keo¬ 
kuk group. The section found in the beds is reported by the 


driller as follows: 

Conductor.6 to 10 feet. 

Gray limestone, cherty. 20 feet. 

Gray limestone, hard. 20 feet. 

Shale and blue limestone, alternating and varied. 40 feet. 

Ohio black shale.35to48feet. 

Interval.30 to 40 feet. 

Oil sand.5 to 20 feet. 


Though the elements of this section were obtained from those 
who had long been engaged in developing the field, there is no 
reason to believe that they have employed sharp observation or 
discrimination in making the record. The most prominent land¬ 
mark in the section is the Devonian black shale (Ohio shale), 
which is found as above noted at a depth of about 90 feet below 
the surface. The oil rock, as already noted, is struck at about 
170 feet, showing that an interval of 30 to 40 feet occurs between 
the shale and the oil sand. 

The oil rock is, according to the testimony of the drillers and 
from the evidence furnished by such samples as could be ob¬ 
tained, a sandstone. No information could be obtained in the 
field establishing satisfactorily the character of the rock that 
fills the interval between the black shale and the oil sand. The 
nature of this interval is an important and interesting question, 
and the interpretation of the horizon of the oil rock, as will be 
presently shown, will depend altogether upon the identification 
of the rock that occupies this interval. 

We come, then, to the question: What is the horizon of the 
oil sand ? Or, in other words, to what geological formation does 
it belong? It is to be regretted that this question can not be 
answered in positive terms, or at least in such a way as to com- 









4ND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 151 

mand the assent of all who are acquainted with the geology of 
the district. But a section found at and near the South Tunnel 
of the Louisville and Nashville Railway, in Sumner county, 
Tennessee, at a point intermediate between Gallatin, Tennessee, 
and Franklin, Kentucky, about forty miles distant from the oil 
field under consideration, furnishes us a possible, and, on the 
whole, a probable reference of the oil rock. This section is as 


follows : 

9. Gray and blue limestone, fossiliferous.50 feet. 

8 . Dark, calcareous shale.30 feet. 

7. Yellow cherty limestone, very hard.2.5 feet. 

•6. Dark shale.15 feet. 

5. Black shale, sparingly fossiliferous.35 feet. 

4. Magnesian limestone, fossiliferous ..,30 feet. 

8 . Blue shale, soft, calcareous.10 feet. 

2 . White, uneven-bedded limestone.10 feet. 


1. Blue limestone, containing Orthis smuata, and other Hudson river fossils. 

As to the interpretation of the section, it may be said that 
several of the elements are unmistakable. Numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 
belong without question to the Keokuk division of the Subcar - 
boniferous. Number 5 is unequivocally the Ohio, or Devonian 
black shale. It contains the fossils characteristic of the for¬ 
mation throughout its entire extent, viz; Sporangites and 
Sporocarpon. Number 4 is a magnesian limestone containing 
numerous fossils, and among them Halysites catenulata, and a 
large-celled favosite (Favosites favosa). This is unquestiona¬ 
bly the Niagara limestone. Number 8 is a blue shale, ten feet 
in thickness, in which no fossils were found, but its stratigraphy 
would indicate that it belongs to the Niagara group and repre¬ 
sents the widespread Niagara shale. Number 2 is a limestone 
that, in its bedding and composition, is the exact counterpart 
of the Clinton limestone of Ohio and Indiana, and, moreover, 
it contains one or more fossils that are counted characteristic of 
this formation. 

The lowermost stratum, or number 1, is unmistakably Hud¬ 
son river in age, and can be followed downward in descending 
courses for several hundred feet along the track. 

The oil rock of Barren county lies at just about the same 
distance below the black shale as that at which the stratum here 
identified as the Clinton limestone is found. In the latter for- 










152 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


mation, interpolated beds of sandstone frequently occur, as we 
know from the well sections of the formation in Ohio, and these 
sandstones are petroliferous in that State. The reference of the 
Glasgow oil, therefore, to the horizon here named, viz.: the 
Clinton, seems on these accounts to be reasonable and probable. 
At any rate the oil rock belongs 40 to 50 feet beloAv the Ohio 
shale. No section has been found in Kentucky, so far as is* 
known, in which an interval of this amount would more than 
exhaust the Upper Silurian system. 

The Clinton series in Ohio has recently become, as is well 
known, an important oil rock and gas rock. In particular, it 
is beyond question the source of the gas of the Lancaster, 
Thurston and Newark fields of this State. It is also productive 
of both gas and oil in considerable quantity in Wood and San¬ 
dusky counties, in the northern part of this State. 

Leaving, without further discussion, the question of the 
geological age and name of the oil rock of the Glasgow field, 
we come to its productiveness. What is its record as a source 
of oil ? The answer to this question will be found in the his¬ 
tory of the field. A dozen or more wells have been drilled in a 
cluster around the original Boyd’s creek oil spring, as already 
related. One of the number, drilled in 1872, is credited with 
the following production: For two years it is said to have pro¬ 
duced as a flowing well 18 barrels per day; for the next two 
years, 10 barrels per day, and for the next two, 5 barrels per 
day. At the end of this period pumping was resorted to, and 
from 1878 to 1884 it is said to have produced about 10 barrels 
per day. In 1888 it was credited with a production of 3 barrels 
per day, and this rate is said to be maintained at the present 
time. On this basis its total production would foot up as fol¬ 
lows : 


1872 to 1874 
1874 to 1876 
1876 to 1878 
1878 to 1884 
1884 to 1888 


13,000 barrels. 
7,300 barrels, 
3,600 barrels. 
14,600 barrels. 
4,400 barrels. 


Total 


43,000 barrels. 


These figures, as is apparent, are to be taken as representing: 
the facts in a general way only. They probably exaggerate, to 









AND ASPHALT HOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. . 153 

some extent, the yield of the well, but they certainly serve to 
establish the persistency of the supply. The Standard Oil 
Company entered the held and worked these wells for a num¬ 
ber of years, but latterly this interest has been withdrawn, and 
Col. J. C. Adams, of Glasgow, now controls the product of the 
entire series. In 1883 he was pumping seven wells, the com¬ 
bined production of which was reported as 25 to 28 barrels per 
day. 

The oil is treated on the premises in a crude way, about 55 
per cent, of distillate being obtained from it. This distillate 
can be burned in the condition in which it comes from the stills, 
and a small quantity of it is so used in the immediate neighbor¬ 
hood ; but it is mainly shipped to Louisville for further treat¬ 
ment, including bleaching and deodorizing. It is hauled from 
the wells to the railroad in tanks fitted to wagons. The dis¬ 
tillation of the oil was formerly pushed to the point of crack¬ 
ing, 70 per cent, of distillate being recovered from the crude 
oil, but the quality of the distillate suffered considerably by 
this treatment. Besides this, the quality and amount of the 
tar and lubricating oil were sacrificed thereby, and these to¬ 
gether are worth as much as the refined oil would be. 

Recent History. 

A new chapter in this history begins with 1887. As already 
described, the effect of the recent discovery of oil and gas in 
Ohio and Indiana then for the first time made itself felt in this 
district. Two or three companies were organized for explora¬ 
tion in the county, and several other companies have been since 
formed for the purpose, and more than forty wells have been 
drilled within a semicircle of ten miles radius, with Glasgow 
for a center, and many lying to the south and west of the town. 

The Eureka Oil and Gas Company, under the direction of R. 
W. Carroll & Sons, took the lead in the new development. 
This company and the Kentucky Southern Oil and Gas Com¬ 
pany, which is understood to represent the same interests, are 
reported as having drilled more than twenty wells within the 
limits named, some of them to a considerable depth. The same 
company has also erected a refinery four miles west of Glasgow, 
which has been in operation since early in 1890. The capacity 


154 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


of the refinery is said to be 600 barrels per week, but tlie amount 
of oil that has been refined here is not known. 

The new drilling* was, however, begun by a Glasgow company. 
It put down a well to the depth of 1,200 feet in 1887, unlocking 
at that depth a strong fiow of highly sulphuretted water, gen¬ 
erally known as “ Bine Lick” water. 

Two or more of the weils drilled by the Eureka Company 
produced dry gas, and one of them from a depth of 850 feet 
below the surface. These wells are about five miles south-west 
of the town, on the line of the Scottville pike. Well number 
2 is located on the Drane farm. Gas was first struck in it at 
835 feet, and the supply is said to have steadily increased for 
the 30 feet directly underlying. The well was finished at 900 
feet. The casing was set at 365 feet, and considerable trouble 
was experienced from water at or near that depth. A frag¬ 
mentary record of the section is reported as follows : 


Blue limestone.90 feet. 

Blue shale.45 feet. 


Well number 3, on the Furlong farm, 1,200 feet west of num¬ 
ber 1, found a highly sulphuretted and offensive gas at 310 feet, 
and at 355 feet, a green oil with a gravity of 44J degrees is re¬ 
ported. Both gas and oil were in small volume. Salt water is 
also reported to have been found at 278 feet. 

Well number 4, 2,400 feet north-east of well number 2, is 
reported to have found amber oil at 95 feet and a black oil a 
little below it in the Ohio shale. The well was afterwards 
drilled much deeper. The section found was reported as fol¬ 
lows, while the well was being drilled: 


Blue limestone and shale. 120 feet. 

Black shale. 45 feet. 

Slate and shells. 165 feet. 

Limestone, sparingly fossiliferous. 330 feet. 

Green shales and gray rock, at. 1,370 feet. 


The production of the Drane well was measured in July, 1888, 
by means of the anemometer, and a daily production of 87,500 
feet was found. The measure was not exact, and the total pro¬ 
duction would perhaps be found to be not less than a hundred 
thousand feet per day The gas appeared to be in all respects 
•of an excellent character. 









AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


155 


From the first the gas has been utilized in the drilling of the 
later wells, and has also been conveyed to the refinery of the 
company. Much larger wells than the one here named are re¬ 
ported to have been struck since this date, but no authentic 
accounts relating to them are at hand. 

The drilling in the field has, however, all along been directed 
to oil and not to gas. Of the score or more of wells belonging 
to the interest named above, all are reported as producing oil 
in small quantity, and one is reported to be producing three 
barrels per day. Probably some of the others might be made 
to duplicate this record. It is said that this oil is found in the 
Boyd's creek field in all cases, and at a depth of 180 to 350 
feet below the surface, the depth varying according to the loca¬ 
tion of the wells. 

T1 le Mills & Haven Oil and Gas Company are reported to have 
drilled thirteen wells, twelve of which produce oil. One of 
them is said to be a flowing well, and two of the remainder are 
being pumped at the present time. Their joint production is 
reported at 20 barrels per day. These wells are located about 
four miles west of Glasgow. The remaining wells of the com 
pany are shut in. It is probable that their production is small. 
C. C. Conroy, Esq., has drilled several wells in the neighbor¬ 
hood of the Kentucky Southern wells. 

The following record of a well recently drilled on the farm of 
John Tolle, Esq., 3 miles south-east of Glasgow Junction, has 
been kindly furnished by Paul J. Mahoney, Esq., of Allegheny 
City, Pennsylvania. It is as follows : 



]. Surface deposits. 

2. Gray limestone, hard. 

3. Limestone, soft, lighter colored. 

4. Limestone, sandy. 

5. Black shale (sulphur water). 

6. Limestone, sandy. 

7. Black slate, with pebbles, a little gas. 

8. Gray limestone, part of it hard and silicious, part easy drilling . . 

9. Black shale (Ohio shale), soft. 

10. Sand, white, pebbly . .. 

,11. Sand, light gray, carried gas. 

12. Limestone, hard and soft bands alternating, entirely destitute of 

gas and oil; salt water at 700 feet. 


Feet. 

Feet. 


22 

15 

37 

22 

59 

61 

120 

10 

130 

25 

155 

10 

165 

235 

400 

57 

457 

5 

462 

20 

482 

1,029 

1,511 































156 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

The last great limestone sheet grew harder the deeper it was 
followed by the drill. The sulphur water struck at 120-130 feet 
was unusually rank and offensive. Gas was found at two hori¬ 
zons, as noted in the record, viz: at 155 to 165 feet in No. 7, and 
again in No. 11. The latter carried the odor of petroleum. It 
is seen to be derived from the regular Glasgow horizon, or near 
it. The gas shows a pressure of 75 pounds when shut in live 
minutes. It is thought that the pressure would reach 150 
pounds if the well were thoroughly closed. The black shale 
produced a little salt water, and another vein was struck at 
about 700 feet. The latter was very strong. 

The main interest in the record, as will be seen, centers in the 
so-called Glasgow sand, which is here reported at 456 feet. The 
same stratum is found at Oil City and in its vicinity at 185 feet 
at Jordan’s wells, south and west, at 330 feet. 

In addition to these actual tests, a large amount of work has 
been done by experienced operators from the older fields during 
the last year, in the way of leasing lands and organizing com¬ 
panies for operation in the county. In fact, the search has 
been attended with more or less speculative excitement, with¬ 
out which it is hardly to be expected that a new oil field can 
be developed at all. All the facts of the field have been closely 
watched by shrewd and experienced operators, especially during 
the last summer. 

What is the outcome, or rather, what is the promise of all 
this work and expenditure ? It may be said in reply that a 
genuine oil horizon has been proved to exist here about 40 to 
60 feet below the bottom of the Devonian black shale. It has 
not proved, however, in any sense a prolific rock up to the 
present time. It is found, in fact, at too shallow a depth to 
warrant the expectation that it will hereafter be so found, but 
it certainly displays good staying qualities. So far as the facts 
now appear, an oil field is likely to be developed here, the in¬ 
dividual wells of which may make up by their persistency and 
by the small expense by which they can be drilled and operated 
for the small production to be expected of them. Two to ten 
barrels per day seem to mark the common limit of production, 
but the wells can be planted close enough together to allow a 
half dozen or more of them to be pumped by a single engine.. 


4ND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 157 

The cost of drilling and equipping a well ought not to exceed 
: $500 to $600. 

As to deeper sources of oil, it is enough to say that none have 
as yet been developed. Gas in the quantities already reported 
and oil in small amount has been found at several different 
levels as the work has gone forward here, but nothing like an 
oil or gas horizon has been made apparent. It is quite possi¬ 
ble that carefully kept records of the work which has been 
done in which the showings of gas or oil have been found 
would disclose some productive band. It is not to be sup¬ 
posed that wells yielding one or two million cubic feet of gas 
per day, and showing good vitality (such wells are reported), 
could be found without at some point communicating with a 
body of oil. In other words, every gas horizon we expect to 
ffnd, at no great remove, an oil rock. 

If any deeper source of gas and oil can be shown to exist 
here in the shape of some persistent porous bed, it will greatly 
change the promise of the field. The well records, as at pres¬ 
ent given by the drillers, show thus far sporadic accumulation 
only, and such can never afford a proper basis for safe and 
large work. 

The Warren County Wells. 

No oil field or gas field of any promise can be reported for 
Warren county, but the records of a half dozen deep wells 
remain to us as proofs of the interest in exploration directed 
to the discovery of these substances, which has recently over¬ 
spread so much of this portion of the State. 

The rocks of Warren county, like those of Barren and Allen 
counties, already described, belong to the Subcarboniferous sys¬ 
tem, but they are mainly included in its highest divisions, viz: 
the St. Louis and the Chester. In no portion of the State are the 
characteristics of the St. Louis division, including its fossils, 
shown to a better advantage than in Warren county. An excel¬ 
lent section of one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five 
is found within the corporate limits of Bowling Green, begin¬ 
ning with low water in the Big Barren river, and extending to 
the summit of the reservoir and the College Hills. The Oolite 
formation, so characteristic of the uppermost beds of the St. 


158 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

Louis, is found here in good exposures ; but in the great White- 
stone quarries, five miles south-west of town, the same stratum 
is found in unsurpassed condition. The coarse red sandstone 
of the Chester division occurs in surface waste at these points, 
overlying the limestone. The section of the Whitestone quar¬ 


ries is as follows: 

4. Chester sandstone, waste. 

3. Oolite, irregular in bedding.10 feet. 

2. Oolite, massive, weathering white, saturated with petroleum.22 feet. 

1. Blue limestone, fossiliferous, making road metal.10 feet. 


The main stratum of the quarry, marked 2 in the section, is a 
remarkable body of rock. The joints are well marked, and are 
directed approximately to the cardinal points. They are never 
less than 20 feet apart, and sometimes the interval rises as high 
as 60 feet. The entire stratum, 22 feet thick, is one compact 
mass, so that blocks of any dimension that can be required can 
be obtained here; and yet, strange to say, the lines of false 
bedding that occur here attest unmistakably that the limestone 
mud was thrown down upon an uneven floor in oblique depo¬ 
sition. This entire mass is heavily charged with petroleum. 
The quarries reek with the characteristic odor of limestone oil. 
While about them, one can scarcely resist the impression that 
a Trenton limestone oil well has been opened near by. From 
the presence of the petroleum the limestone has a light brown 
tint when quarried, but on exposure to the air the petroleum 
evaporates, and the rock acquires a whiteness almost equal to 
that of marble. 

With a stratum like this as a permanent element in the 
geological scale of the county, it is no wonder that surface 
indications of oil are common here. In the deeper strata of 
the county, also, the discovery of gas and oil in small quan¬ 
tity in wells drilled to a shallow depth for water is not unusual, 
and can be easily explained. 

It was a case of this last sort that led to the recent extensive 
testing of such localities in the county by the drill. The work 
was begun in this wise: In 1885, Capt. C. G. Smallhouse, of 
Bowling Green, put down a well in the interest of the artificial 
ice company of the town to secure water adapted to this use. 
The well was drilled to a depth of 250 feet, at which point a 





AND ASPHALT ROOK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


159 


small quantity of oil and gas were found. It was just at this 
time that the new oil rock of Ohio was coming to be generally 
known, and the possibility of a horizon of such accumulations 
in rocks that had never been credited heretofore with them was 
everywhere recognized. 

In January, 1886, a number of the leading citizens of Bowling 
Green, being made acquainted with the geological considera¬ 
tions bearing upon the subject, mainly through the agency of 
Col. M. H. Crump, Professor of Natural Science in Ogden 
College, secured a charter for a company under the name of 
the Bowling Green Petroleum and Fuel Company; and later, 
in the same year, undertook active operations in the way of 
drilling wells. 

The trial well was located on the west side of the town. The 
contractor was R. W. Carroll, of the American Well Drilling 
Company of Louisville. The price for drilling was $2,000 for 
1,000 feet, and $500 of the stock of the company. The casing 
of the well was furnished by the company. It was set at 160 
feet to shut out a strong vein of sulphur water, which is usu¬ 
ally found in the lower measures of the St. Louis limestone. 

At 363 feet oil was found in small quantity, a barrel or two 
being produced in a day. The gravity of the oil was 35 degrees 
B. Gas in like small quantity was yielded by the rock at this 
point. Whether the productive horizon belongs to the St. 
Louis or the Keokuk can not be determined positively, but it 
is probably included in the latter series. The boundary be¬ 
tween the two divisions is obscure, at least under ground. The 
great shale series of the Keokuk was represented in the well 
by 250 feet in a nearly continuous series. An admirable set 
of the drillings of the well was secured in the interest of the 
company by Colonel Crump, the use of which has been freely 
offered to the officers of the State Geological Survey. 

The further record is based largely on an examination of 
these samples. For the first 300 feet hard drilling was en¬ 
countered, the cherty balls that characterize the base of the 
St. Louis system accounting for this fact. The upper surface 
of the black slate (Devonian shale) is found with tolerable dis¬ 
tinctness at 660 feet. The shale formation appears to extend 
to 770 feet. The microscopic fossils of the shale were looked 


160 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

for, but were not found in the drillings. A silicious limestone, 
called by the driller “sharp sand,” comes in below the black 
shale, but this portion of the record is not as distinct as could 
be desired. The next lower unequivocal horizon is the Hudson 
river system, which was struck at 990 feet, or thereabouts, as 
is proved by the presence of the characteristic fossils of the 
formation in the drillings. 

The well was sunk to a depth of 1,782 feet. Near the bottom 
of the column dark shale was struck. There is little doubt that 
the Trenton limestone was passed through in the descent, but 
there is nothing in this part of the country to especially mark 
this stratum. In open sections it is to be distinguished only by 
the appearance or disappearance of a few fossils, no constant 
lithological distinction being found on which a separation from 
the limestone beds above it can be effected. The well was dry 
through the lowermost 1,500 feet of the section, no oil, gas or 
water being found except in insignificant amount. 

Well number 2 of the company was drilled on Drake’s creek, 
near the mill site of Sweney & Potter, five miles east of Bowl¬ 
ing Green. The special location was determined by the fact 
that water for drilling was available here, the supply at the 
time being short throughout the immediate neighborhood ; but 
a slight arch that appears in the surface rocks at this point had 
its influence in the location of a well in this vicinity. 

The drilling was begun in July, 1887. An unexpected condi¬ 
tion of things was developed at the start in the unusual thick¬ 
ness of the valley deposits at this point. Eighty-two feet of 
drive pipe were required to reach the bedded rock. A stratum 
of limestone, 100 feet in thickness, was the first element re¬ 
ported below the drive pipe. It probably represents the lower 
beds of the St. Louis limestone, in whole or in part. A small 
vein of sulphur water was found at this level. Under the lime¬ 
stone a stratum of shale was reached, and at a depth of 248 feet 
gas was struck in notable quantity. The flow was approximately 
measured, and its volume was found to be not less than a hun¬ 
dred thousand feet per day. The well remained open from 
October, 1887, to June, 1888, when it was torpedoed with 75 
pounds of No. 1 JEtna blasting powder. The effect of the ex¬ 
plosion was, however, unfavorable. It seemed to clog the well 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


161 


and to shut off in large part the supply of gas that had been 
previously escaping. In 1888 the volume of gas was too small 
to admit of measurement unless through a very small pipe. 
The closed pressure reached 35 pounds in eight minutes. The 
gas rock is reported as a dark blue shale, with a considerable 
quantity of Anhydrite distributed through it. It was thought 
to be about ten feet in thickness. 

Well number 3 was located 500 feet from number 2, directly 
upon the anticlinal already named that appears at this point 
m the roadway. No gas was found in this well. The Devonian 
black shale was struck at 440 feet depth, and the well was 
finished at 705 feet without any noteworthy facts being brought 
to light. 

Well number 4, located on the Hess farm, intermediate be¬ 
tween Bowling Green and the Drake’s Creek wells, was begun 
in January, 1888, and was drilled to a depth of 500 feet. A 
little gas was found at 275 feet in the Keokuk group. The 
Devonian shale was reached before the well was completed. 

One more trial of the Drake’s Creek district was made, and 
well number 5 was located about a thousand feet south of well 
number 2, which had proved in reality the only one of the 
group that seemed to justify further exploration. In this well 
the black slate was struck at from 450 to 500 feet, as in the 
other wells, and the drilling was continued to a depth of 1,200 
feet, but without any valuable result. 

The resolution of the company was equal, however, to one 
more test, and well number 6 was located in the same neigh¬ 
borhood as numbers 3 and 4. This well yielded from the 
Keokuk horizon a feeble flow of gas, perhaps thiee-quarteis 
as much as that originally produced by well number 2 . The 
well was torpedoed, but not only without advantage to it, but 
with positive loss. As a result of the explosion, water ap¬ 
peared, while the flow of gas was in no degree improved 

by it. 

The explorations of the company ceased with the drilling of 
this well. A main object of the search had been to secure a 
supply of natural gas for the use of the thriving and beautiful 
town which they represented, but the tests had given no en- 

GEOL. SUR.—11 


162 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

couragement to the belief that such a supply was attainable 
here. 

In addition to the tests of the Bowling Green company, it is 
to be noted that still another well was drilled, one mile north¬ 
west of the town, by Colonel Atwood Hopson, in 1888. Oil was 
found in this well at the same level which had yielded gas and 
oil in several of the wells already described, viz.: at about 250 
to 300 feet below the surface. Gas in quantity large enough, as 
was thought, to supply one or two dwellings, was also reported 
from the well, but neither oil nor gas were in large enough 
amount to justify utilization. 

The only important fact developed by the expensive explora¬ 
tions at Bowling Green and in its vicinity is that the latter 
served to establish a weak horizon of petroliferous accumula¬ 
tion in the upper portion of the Keokuk group, 150 to 200 feet 
above the upper surface of the Devonian black shale. While 
no economic value has been found thus far in this oil and gas 
horizon, it still deserves to be specially noted and to be placed 
distinctly on record. It constantly happens that some feeble 
source of gas and oil in one district becomes a remunerative, 
or even a prolific, source of these substances in another. It is 
accordingly an important part of all geological explorations in 
this connection to mark such horizons wherever they are dis¬ 
covered, even though they possess no economic importance 
whatever in the field in which they are first proved to exist. 

In the counties previously named this horizon has not been 
tested. The wells of Burksville, Scottville and Glasgow be¬ 
gin below its level. But in a succeeding section a notable quan¬ 
tity of gas is to be reported that is possibly to be referred to 
this particular source. 

The Hopkinsville Well. 

A single deep well has been drilled at Hopkinsville, Christian 
county, as a result of the newly-awakened interest in gas and 
oil throughout the country. A company was organized, and a 
test well was begun early in 1888. It was sunk to a depth of 
1,500 feet. The well was located in the limestone quarry of S. 
H. McCarley, a mile distant from the center of the town. The 
contract for drilling was taken by the Forest City Petroleum, 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 163 

Gas and Drilling Company at a rate of $1,800 for a thousand 
feet, with the privilege being left to the company of going 
deeper at a rate of $1.40 per foot. The drilling was unevent¬ 
ful in every particular. The horizon of the well is near the 
summit of the St. Louis limestone. The record was not kept 
in such a shape as to furnish much minute geological informa¬ 
tion. Sulphur water was struck at a depth of 95 feet, and was 
cased out at 105 feet, below which no further trouble was ex¬ 
perienced. The place of the black shale was diligently sought 
for in the record, but the only testimony available seems to 
place it at 1,2/5 to 1,340 feet in the well. These figures will 
show a surprising, but still not altogether anomalous, thicken¬ 
ing of the Subcarboniferous series between Bowling Green and 
Hopkinsville, the interval not exceeding 60 miles. At 1,375 feet 
blue shale was reported in the well, and at 1,440 and 1,505 feet 
brown shale was reported. At 1,600 feet a small vein of gas, 
accompanied by a little oil, was found. The drilling was sus¬ 
pended at this depth. If the identification of the horizons 
named above is a true one, the lowermost 200 feet of the well 
are in the Hudson river formation. 

This concludes the account of all the drilling that has been 
carried on in the southern central counties of Kentucky dur¬ 
ing recent or earlier years, of which trustworthy records have 
been obtained for this report. All of the wells described in the 
preceding section, except those of Burksville, were begun in 
strata of the Subcarboniferous age, but in different portions 
of this extensive series. Two approximately steady horizons 
of gas and oil have been brought to light—one 50 feet below the 
bottom of the Devonian black shale, and presumably in the 
Clinton horizon, and the other 150 feet above the upper surface 
of the same formation. In addition, there has been shown the 
presence of either sporadic accumulations of petroleum at va¬ 
rious levels in the series, or else oil rocks more or less persistent, 
the place of which has not yet been accurately determined. 

In the further drilling that is certain to be undertaken here 
in the near future, the attention of companies and contractors 
is especially directed to securing and making public authentic 
records of their work. Only in this way can horizons of gas 



164 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

and oil be discovered, and only in this way can geological 
knowledge be made to apply with profit to the driller’s work. 
As an example of what is needed in this line, the record of a 
deep well in the Glasgow field may be specially mentioned and 
commended. The samples of drilling were saved at frequent 
and regular intervals with great care by C. C. Conroy, Esq., the 
owner of the well. A summary of the record, as thus estab¬ 
lished, shows a monotonous series of limestones and calcareous 
shales for most of the distance traversed, it is true, but compari¬ 
son with other similar records would soon bring order out of 
the present obscurity. 

By the aid of a few more records of this sort, collected in 
different portions of the territory which is now being tested, 
accurate information could be secured which could not fail to 
aid and direct all subsequent work in this line. The difficulty 
in obtaining such information as is needed results from several 
causes, one of which is that in the search for stored wealth the 
common interest is not generally regarded. Another, and a 
more serious obstacle to obtaining satisfactory records, is the 
failure of the driller to appreciate the importance of the con¬ 
tinuous account of his work and the support of the same by 
accurately-kept samples of the drillings. He often labors un¬ 
der the erroneous notion that what does not arrest his attention 
or interest him can not be of value to the geologist, and in 
this way very often the critical portion of the column is passed 
without any note of its character. It is from such defects of 
the records in the Glasgow field, for example, that we are una¬ 
ble, after 40 wells have been drilled, to say whether there is a 
steady and important petroleum horizon in the Hudson river 
group of this part of the State or not. 

In summing up the facts presented in the preceding pages, 
it may be said that the Subcarboniferous series of Southern 
Central Kentucky, while covering minor accumulations of oil 
and gas at several different levels in the strata, has not yet 
been proved to be at any point either prolific or even fairly 
remunerative oil territory; but it must be added that there 
are still large unexhausted possibilities in this field, and the 
results of tests now in progress ought soon to show what its 
real nature and promise in this respect are. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


165 


Passing northwards from the district already reported upon, 
we find that deep wells have recently been drilled in a number 
of counties, and particularly in Franklin county, at Frankfort, 
in Oldham county, at Lagrange, and in Jefferson county, in 
the vicinity of Louisville. All of these have been sunk to 
the lower rocks of the geological scale of the State. The 
Frankfort well, indeed, was begun in the Bird’s-eye limestone, 
and must have nearly exhausted the normal section of the 
rocks of the Paleozoic column in its descent. In all the cases 
in which this lower series has been reached, so far as known, 
the rocks traversed by the drill have been in the main magne¬ 
sian limestones, more or less silicious. Thin beds of sharp 
sandstone occasionally interrupt the monotony of the series. 
No interest in the way of gas or oil has in any instance been 
developed in them. Highly mineralized water, often rank with 
sulphurous compounds, constitute the only production of these 
deep wells up to the present time. In this fact the only en¬ 
couragement to further testing of these ancient foundations 
is to be found. We have lately learned that in the porous 
strata or beds that contain these deep-lying sulphurous brines, 
gas and oil are also sometimes found. At present the Trenton 
limestone is the oldest source of valuable accumulation of these 
substances, but this fact has been but very recently discovered. 
There is, therefore, no inherent improbability that still lower 
horizons may be discovered. If any such shall be brought to 
light at any time, they will be identical with the water-bear¬ 
ing beds to which reference is here made, and herein lies the 
interest of these porous beds. None of the tests thus far 
made, it must, however, be noted, either in Ohio, Indiana, 
Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota or Missouri, has dis¬ 
closed any reservoir of oil or gas to which drilling can be 
directed with any promise of profit. The record of the Frank¬ 
fort well is so monotonous that it does not seem necessary to 
publish it in full. The series that it traversed consists of mag¬ 
nesian limestones, more or less silicious, and showing frequent 
alternations in color. No further discussion of it is necessary 
at this time. 


166 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


The Lagrange Wells. 

Four deep wells have recently been drilled in the vicinity of 
Lagrange by a home company, organized for the purpose of 
testing their territory for oil and gas. While the immediate 
incentive to undertaking drilling at this time came from the 
recent experience of Ohio and Indiana, there was another factor 
united with it in determining this action. More than thirty 
years ago the Louisville and Nashville Railway Company 
drilled a well at Lagrange, to obtain, if possible, an artesian 
water supply suitable for railway use. Intelligent residents 
of the town declare that the well was drilled to a depth of 
two thousand feet; but this would have been an extravagant 
depth for that day, and in the absence of authoritative records, 
these figures can scarcely be accepted as trustworthy. Gas was 
found at one or more levels of the descent, and it is said to 
have more than once made trouble for the drillers by becoming 
ignited. At the bottom of the well, wherever the drilling 
stopped, salt water was struck, which was equally unsatis¬ 
factory for railway use, both as to quantity and quality. The 
well was consequently abandoned, after being plugged; but 
in spite of this treatment gas continued to escape from it in 
small amount, and could be lighted for some time afterwards. 
Four years ago this history was recalled, and doubtless in an 
exaggerated form. The location of the well was sought out, 
the plug driven down in the pipe, and gas began to escape from 
it once more in quantity enough to blaze a foot or two above 
the tubing. The history above given was naturally counted 
even more satisfactory testimony as to the presence of under¬ 
lying gas than any series of surface indications could afford. 
The facts were considered proof positive that Lagrange was 
in the gas belt, and that this most admirable and excellent 
of fuels was to be had here for the asking. The company 
consequently entered upon its work with the highest hopes 
of success. 

Before taking up the history of the several wells, a few 
statements as to the surface geology of Lagrange will find 
appropriate place. The location is an interesting one geologi¬ 
cally in this respect, viz: that the junction of Lower Silurian 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 167 

and Upper Silurian rocks occurs at this point. The railroad 
cuts between Pendleton and the Lexington Junction furnish a 
nearly complete section of the Niagara formation in this part 
of the State. The only exception is that the part of the series 
where the Clinton limestone is due is not exposed. The same 
section as that found in the railroad cuts, but shorter and more 
compact, though less thoroughly displayed, is found in passing 
directly southward one-lialf mile from the center of the village 
to the valley of Harrod’s creek that Hows past the town. The 
stream is bedded in the Hudson river series, while the quarry in 
the village is characteristically Niagara. 

In the railroad section the top of the Hudson river series, 
carrying a number of its most characteristic fossils, is found 
in Vance’s cut. Just below this fossiliferous series there are 
found fifteen to twenty feet of unusually even-bedded sandy 
and calcareous shales, marked by greenish bands. These beds 
present the appearance of massive and firm rocks, but they are 
in reality soft and worthless for all economic uses. They cor¬ 
respond very closely in all their features with a series that is 
found at a similar point in the scale in the South Tunnel on 
the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, just south of the Ken¬ 
tucky line. The Niagara limestone, as found at Lagrange, 
consists of an impure magnesian limestone, which contains 
crinoidal remains in abundance, but comparatively few other 
fossils. These few are, hoAvever, fairly characteristic. 

Four wells were drilled at Lagrange, as previously stated, 
during 1887 and 1888, two of them north and two south of the 
railroad. The American Drilling Company, of Covington, took 
the contract for the first well. This well proved an expensive 
one for the company, about forty-seven hundred dollars being- 
spent upon it. It was drilled entirely dry to a depth of 1,400 
feet, at which point a feeble flow of salt and sulphur water was 
struck, which rose 200 feet in the course of a few days. The 
drilling was carried about a hundred feet below this point, and 
several new veins of salt water were struck in this interval. 
Samples of the drillings were saved during the progress of the 
well, and from an inspection of them the place of the Trenton 
is judged to be about 800 feet below the surface. The well pro¬ 
duced no gas. 


168 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

Well number 2 was dry to a depth of 1,2#0 feet, at which 
point a weak vein of salt water, similar to that described in 
the last section, was found, and by which the further descent 
of the drill was arrested. The well w T as begun on higher ground 
than well number 1, and this fact, taken in connection with the 
statement above given, shows that the salt water horizons are 
not regular in their occurrence. Traces of oil were found in 
the lowest series that was reached, but there was not enough 
of it to possess any economic importance. The cost of this 
well was about $1,500. 

In well number 3 the section as reported by the driller com 
tained a great deal more shale than was reported in the other 
wells, but there is no reason to believe that any marked differ¬ 
ence exists in the sections themselves. The difference in the 
record depends upon the discrimination and accuracy of deter¬ 
mination of the driller, rather than upon any difference that 
could occur in the series itself within so short limits. The 
shales are represented in this last record as extending from 
300 to 700 feet, with few interbedded solid courses. Insignifi¬ 
cant amounts of gas were found in this series at three different 
points in the descent. The cost of well number 3 was $1,200. 

Well number 4 is located one-half mile south of the town, 
on the outcrop of the Hudson river rocks, in the valley of 
Harrod’s creek, to which attention has already been called. 
This well yielded more gas than any of the others, the largest 
amount being derived from a point about 565 feet below the 
surface, and in the shale series already noted. The drilling 
was suspended at this point. The volume of gas was measured 
by the anemometer a few days after it was struck, and the well 
was found to be producing 5,000 feet in 24 hours. 

The Lagrange Company had now expended between eight 
and nine thousand dollars, and it was evident that no results 
had been obtained that would justify the outlay or encourage 
further expenditure. The work of exploration was, therefore, 
abandoned at this point. The first wells were carried down 
through the Bird’s-eye and into the Chazy beds. The trace 
of oil previously reported must have been derived from this 
lower stratum. 


AND ASPHALT KOOK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


169 


The Louisville Wells. 


Within the city limits, and in the vicinity of Louisville, 
several deep wells have been drilled since the new interest in 
gas and oil has been developed. On the Indiana side of the 
river, in like manner, several thorough tests have been made 
of the underlying strata, to the depth of 2,000 feet or more 
below the surface. Nothing of economic interest has been 
found in any of these wells. As a matter of course, light 
veins of gas and small shows of oil have been found in them 
at various depths, for it is impossible to go amiss of such in 
explorations of this character in the Mississippi Valley; but 
so far as a half dozen or more tests, carried on at an expendi¬ 
ture of not less than $20,000, can settle such a question, there 
are no valuable accumulations of gas or oil in this immediate 
region. There was, in fact, no antecedent probability that any 
such accumulations would be found. The Trenton limestone is 
the only proved horizon that underlies the geological level of 
Louisville, and this had been found wanting in productive 
power for a full hundred miles to the northward and north¬ 
eastward of the city. 

In one of these Louisville wells a deep brine was found, 
which, during the last two years, has been utilized to some 
extent in the city as a medicinal water. It is said to rise from 
a depth of 1,900 feet in an artesian flow, and a small volume 
of inflammable gas escapes with it. The well is known as St. 
Patrick’s well, from the fact that it was struck on St, Patrick's 
day, 1888. It is situated on Third avenue, between Weissinger 
and Magnolia streets. Handsome provision has been made for 
the disposal of the water, and the usual experience as to the 
power of such water to heal all the ills to which flesh is heir is 
being rapidly accumulated. An analysis of the water is fur¬ 
nished in the advertisement by which its merits are made 
known. The analysis was made by Prof. L. I). Kastenbine,. ol 
the Louisville Medical College. It is as follows: 


GRAINS IN ONE WINE GALLON. 

Free carbonic acid.* * * 

Chloride of sodium.* * * 

Chloride of magnesium.. 

Sulphate of lime. 

Carbonate of lime . .. 

Carbonate of magnesia. 

Carbonate of iron. 

Silica... 

Loss... 

Traces of organic matter, specific gravity. 

Temperature 57.2° E. 


13.58104 
760.53824 
40.33624 
128.59616 
72.79808 
6.22256 
1.79800 
0.61736 
1.39808 
1.011 











170 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

The geological horizon of Louisville is well known. Its sur¬ 
face rocks belong mainly to Devonian time, but the junction 
of Upper Silurian and Devonian formations is also found at a 
few points within the city limits. The Devonian limestone that 
comes to the surface in the valley of the Ohio river is as remark¬ 
able and interesting a representative of this geological age as is 
known in the world. A depth of 2,000 feet below the surface, 
which was attained by several of the wells drilled here, would 
carry the drill down to the same ancient stratum that was re 
ported in the preceding section. The salt water of the Third 
avenue well is probably derived from some phase of the Chazy 
formation. 


The Meade County Wells. 

We reach in our review the group of gas wells situated in the 
Ohio valley, twenty-live to forty miles below Louisville, that 
have awakened more interest and excitement, and led to the 
expenditure of more money, than any other discovery of either 
gas or oil within the limits of the State. The stratum from 
which the gas of the Meade county field is derived is the De¬ 
vonian black shale, known in the geological column of the 
State as the Ohio shale. The surface rocks of the district in 
which the gas is found belong to the Subcarboniferous lime¬ 
stone series, and mainly to the St. Louis division. In this 
respect the present field agrees with the oil fields of Southern 
Kentucky, previously described, but the source of the oil or 
gas, as has been noted, is not the same as in the Glasgow field. 

The history of the Meade county wells agrees in its general 
features with the history of the other fields that have been 
already described. All can be followed through substantially 
the same stages, among which the following are almost certain 
to be recognized in every district, viz: (1) Surface indications 
of oil or gas, mainly of the former, and in the shape of natural 
oil springs ; (2) Tests, more or less thorough, made in 1865 and 
’66 by drillers of Pennsylvania; (3) A revival of interest and 
new tests of the region, based upon the discovery of oil and gas 
in the Trenton limestone of Ohio in 1885 and ’86. The Meade 
county field agrees with the Glasgow field further in this par¬ 
ticular, that a production of some importance has been main- 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


171 


tained in it from 1886-7 to the time when the excitement broke 
out. The early history can be briefly told. 

The Early History .—Meade county, in the vicinity of Bran¬ 
denburg, attracted the attention of the oil well driller as soon 
at least as any other point in the State. This result came about 
in the manner here described. 

Part of the drainage of Meade county is effected by a stream 
known as Doe Run, which enters the Ohio a few miles above 
Brandenburg. Tributary to it, and about three miles back from 
the river, is a little valley known from early times as Oil Hol¬ 
low. A seep of petroleum, accompanied by a weak outflow of 
brackish water, constitutes an “oil spring,” of which local ac 
count has always been taken since the country was settled. To 
the oil expert of early time this location seemed on every ac¬ 
count to be full of promise, and the search was accordingly 
begun here in good earnest and with great expectations. The 
money spent was reported to be furnished by Philadelphia capi¬ 
talists. From twenty to thirty wells were drilled in this imme¬ 
diate vicinity during the years 1863 to 1865. The speculative 
excitement, without wdiich an oil field can scarcely be devel¬ 
oped, broke out at this point. For a tract of 72 acres of land, 
worth at most a few hundred dollars, $12,500 were offered, and 
the offer was refused. For a farm that has since been sold at 
its full value for $7,000, $35,000 was offered and refused. In 
a single one of this score of wells, which was located near the 
original oil spring, a little oil was found at a depth of 135 to 
150 feet. A tank was built and pumping was resorted to, but 
the tank was never filled. 

One of the trial wells was located a mile above Brandenburg, 
on the farm of Hon. Alonzo Moreman. Here, at a depth of 
about 527 feet, a so-called crevice was struck, and a strong flow 
of inflammable gas and salt water resulted. The drilling was 
abandoned in disgust on this account. 

Several other wells in the list here named found gas in con¬ 
siderable quantities in the descent, but no interest was taken in 
its occurrence. It was, in fact, decidedly unwelcome, because 
it w r as thought to take the place of the oil which the driller 
was so desirous of finding in paying quantity. Probably none 


172 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL OAS 

of these wells was drilled to a greater depth than one thousand 
feet. This was about the practicable limit at this time. 

The Moreman well, above referred to, continued its mingled 
flow of gas and brine in a vigorous fashion and without re¬ 
straint or appreciable diminution, until 1872, when the utili¬ 
zation of the salt water was begun in a crude way. The recent 
experience of East Liverpool, Ohio, in manufacturing salt from 
brine found associated with natural gas, the gas being used as 
the fuel in the manufacture, was invoked and a small furnace 
was built. The output was about eight barrels of salt per diem. 

The obvious advantages that this new manufacture possessed 
led to the drilling of other wells in the neighborhood. Dr. D. 
C. Pusey drilled a well for gas and salt water nearer to Bran¬ 
denburg than the Moreman well, but while the gas was in good 
volume the brine proved too weak for successful utilization. 
This well was drilled to a depth of 765 feet, at which point a 
second but weak vein of salt water was struck. The new brine 
was tainted with sulphurous products, which would probably 
have rendered it inferior as a source of salt, even if the quan¬ 
tity had been large enough to justify utilization. 

At the Moreman Salt Works the manufacture has been car¬ 
ried on continuously since 1872, and of late years by an im¬ 
proved process. A second and third well have recently been 
drilled near the first to increase the supply of both brine and 
gas, and the daily output of the works has been increased to 
about 25 barrels. The brine has a strength of 107° to 107i° B. 

The temperature at which it is produced was found to be 70 

♦ 

degrees in July. The quality of the salt is of the very best 
character, and the product has the advantage of the local 
market to such a degree that it can command from 20 to 30 
cents more per barrel on the yard than the salt of the great 
districts More money has been made in proportion to the 
investment from these salt works than probably from any other 
in the country during the last fifteen years, but it must be con¬ 
fessed the scale of manufacture is not large. 

The gas from the three wells is used not only in the salt man¬ 
ufacture, but in driving the machinery of a large flouring mill 
in the vicinity, and during the last year the residence of Mr. 
Moreman has been supplied with light and fuel from the same 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


173 


source. This is the first example found in the western half of 
the State in which natural gas has been utilized as a domestic 
fuel. Through the courtesy of Mr. Moreman an- opportunity 
was afforded the officers of the Geological Survey to measure 
' the volume of the original well in the summer of 1888. The 
conditions were not such as to allow an absolute measurement, 
but the approximate measure obtained was 200,000 feet per day. 

The Recent History .—This brings us to 1886, the year in 
which the influence of the wonderful discovery in northern 
Ohio and central Indiana was beginning to take effect on all 
the surrounding country. The discovery of a new and most 
prolific supply of gas from an entirely unexpected source in 
the geological scale seemed to unsettle all the old foundations 
in this regard, and every wakeful-minded community began to 
feel that grand possibilities in the supply of heat and power 
might be sealed up in the rocks underneath it, awaiting only 
the enterprise that should send down a key in the shape of the 
drill to unlock this imprisoned power. In the enthusiasm that 
attended these remarkable discoveries, it would probably have 
been counted far more desirable by many that a gas field should 
be found underlying a town than that a coal field should be so 
discovered. Furthermore, the inducement to make the test was 
sufficiently great to command abundant capital for this purpose 
everywhere. The turn of Louisville and New Albany to en¬ 
gage in this geological exploration came in due order, as has 
been already shown, and the Trenton limestone was forthwith 
reached in numerous wells, but without bringing to light any 
accumulation of the much-coveted fuel. The Meade county 
gas field, already 25 years old and but 40 miles away, could 
not remain unnoticed while this eager search was going for¬ 
ward, and companies were presently formed to investigate the 
supply of the Ohio valley in the Brandenburg district. This 
work was begun for Louisville by a company organized by Col. 
J. B. Castleman in 1886, under the style of the Economic Heat¬ 
ing Company. Their first well was drilled on a piece of land 
belonging to J. A. McGehee, on Doe Run, near the original oil 
spring, to a depth of a thousand feet, but nothing of value was 
discovered in it. The second well was drilled a thousand feet 
deep in the same neighborhood, on the H. A. Haynes farm. 


174 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

Gas was found at a depth of 400 feet, but the contract with 
the driller allowed him to charge for a thousand feet, at what¬ 
ever point he should stop, and the company concluded, there¬ 
fore, to have the work go forward to the full depth required. 
The gas was accordingly cased out. It was found in moderate 
amount only. 

The interest that was thus being shown by their city neigh¬ 
bors in the Meade county gas field presently led several of the 
most enterprising business men of Brandenburg to organize 
companies to further investigate the field in their own interest, 
whether for utilization at home or in a more distant market. 
The Union Gas Company was organized by, and remained under 
the direction of, Hon. 0. C. Richardson, of Brandenburg. The 
First National Gas Company was organized under the presi¬ 
dency of J. W. Lewis, Esq., of Brandenburg, but the capital 
of both companies was drawn in considerable part from Louis¬ 
ville. The Union Gas Conqrany secured territory mainly on 
the Indiana side of the river, in Harrison county. The First 
National Gas Company secured leases on about 3,000 acres of 
land on the Kentucky side, and in the neighborhood of West 
Point, a dozen miles above Brandenburg. Gas from the Bran¬ 
denburg well is used in Brandenburg in the hotel for fuel and 
light. 

The Union Gas Company called to its service, in the organiza¬ 
tion of its work, an excellent geologist, who was at the same 
time thoroughly acquainted with all the elements of the geolog¬ 
ical section involved, in the person of Major W. J. Davis, Sec¬ 
retary of the School Board of Louisville. The entire work of 
exploration of the valley took on a new character from this 
date ; it became more intelligent, orderly and economical. The 
true nature of the supply was recognized, and the deep, costly 
and futile borings that had hitherto been in vogue were at once 
abandoned. In a careful preliminary study that Major Davis 
made of the field in the interest of the comxmny, he found a 
low arch traversing the strata, as they are exposed in the river 
hills, the centre of the arch lying not far from Tobacco Land¬ 
ing, on the Indiana side. Beneath what appeared to be the 
center of this weak uplift, he drove the stake for well No. 1 of 
the Union Company. The well was completed in September, 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 175 

1887. It proved from the start a source of perfectly dry gas. 
The volume of the gas was not large when judged by the stand¬ 
ard of a great field, but there was no drawback whatever in 
connection with it. The quality of the gas was of the best. It 
was obtained from a well, the depth of which was shallow, and 
the cost of which was small, and, as before remarked, the gas 
was entirely free from either oil or salt water. The volume of 
the well was measured by the late Charles A. Ashburner, Geolo¬ 
gist of the Philadelphia Company of Pittsburg, immediately 
after the well was completed, and was reported by him as 
805,000 feet per day. Major Davis subsequently measured the 
well, and found the volume 807,000 feet. Measured for the 
State Geological Survey in July, 1888, it showed a volume of 
803,000 feet. The last measure was taken after the gas had 
been allowed to burn in the air for nearly one year, during 
which time not less than 275,000,000 cubic feet had thus been 
destroyed. The well was named in honor of Major Davis, and 
it did more than any other single factor to bring the field into 
general notice. It was kept lighted for many months, and at¬ 
tracted the attention of all who passed by on the river route. 

Geological Section of the Gas Field.— No better point can 
be found for describing in somewhat more detail the geo¬ 
logical section that is exhibited in the Brandenburg or 
Meade county field. As already stated, the surface rock 
belongs to the middle portion of the Subcarboniferous series, 
and mainly to the St. Louis group. Bold cliffs of this lime¬ 
stone, 200 feet in height, rise abruptly from the river’s edge, 
first on one side of the valley and then on the other. In 
the river bottoms, however, an extensive erosion of the 
bedded rocks has taken place, and probably at a compara¬ 
tively late geological period, the space from which the rock 
has disappeared being now occupied by the usual valley de¬ 
posits of clay, sand and gravel to a depth of 100 to 130 feet. 
The well now under consideration was, however, begun on the 
outcropping edge of the St. Louis limestone, and the series 
was consequently found regular throughout. Alternating lime¬ 
stones and shales, the former predominating, occupied the 
uppermost 245 feet of the well section, representing unmis¬ 
takably the Keokuk group, at least in part. Ac this point 


176 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

the soft shales of the Knobstone group were struck, and they 
continued without interruption until the Devonian black shale 
was reached at a depth of 375 feet. The Knobstone shales are 
thus seen to have had in this well a thickness of 180 feet, but 
this element is by no means constant, as was afterwards found. 
The Knobstone shales are known by the driller as the u Mud¬ 
stone,” and the casing is in all cases set as soon as this horizon 
is reached. The black shale, which is the source of the gas, 
has been found by repeated tests to have a thickness of 50 to 
100 feet. In the well now being described a small flow of 
gas was found as soon as the black shale was reached by the 
drill. The amount gradually increased to a depth of 25 feet 
in the shale, making the total depth of the well 400 feet. The 
rock pressure of the gas was found to be somewhat more than 
100 pounds to the square inch. 

From one well the record of all can be learned, so far as 
the main features of the section are concerned, and with the 
qualification already introduced as to the valley localities. In 
the latter the drift beds are uniformly found about 115 feet 
in thickness, as before noted. 

Further Developments of the Union Gas Company .—The 
Union Gas Company proceeded with its developments, and in 
October, 1887, drilled Well No. 2 at Boone’s Landing, two 
miles below Well No. 1. This well justified the location of 
the first by showing distinctly the reality of the relief that 
was claimed for the former. In No. 2 the Knobstone shale 
was struck at a depth of 400 feet, or 155 feet lower than in 
the first well. The black shale was found at 498 feet, and 
occupied mainly with salt water, only a small volume of gas 
at any time appearing in its production. The slate was drilled 
completely through, and its thickness found to be 81 feet. The 
well was of no value. 

Well No. 3 was located on the Webb farm, and 400 yards 
above Well No. 1. It was finished in May, 1888. The Knob¬ 
stone shale was struck at 230 feet, and the black shale at 345 
feet, showing even more favorable relief than was found in the 
first well. When completed, it produced but a small volume 
of gas from the first thirteen feet of the shale, and no increase 
was derived from going deeper in this stratum. It was then 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


177 


torpedoed at the lowest level at which gas was found with 14 

pounds of dynamite, and a noticeable increase of the flow of 

gas was the result of the explosion. Measured by Major Davis, 

soon after its completion, the volume was found to be nearlv 

«/ 

800,000 feet per day. In July its volume, as measured for 
the Geological Survey, was found to be nearly 1,000,000 feet 
per day. 

Well No. 4, which was finished in June, 1888, was located 
on the same farm as No. 8, but upon the top of the river hill, 
and about 600 yards northeast of the former. It was conse¬ 
quently about 175 feet deeper than the latter, but in absolute 
elevation the strata that were found agree very closely with 
those reported in the previous well. The casing was set at 
411 feet, and the black shale was struck at 506 feet. Gas was 
also found here in the uppermost 13 feet of the stratum. In 
volume it agreed closely with Well No. 3. 

While the drilling above described, which had occupied 
nearly a year, was going forward, under the direction of the 
Union Gas Company, there was great activity in the organiza¬ 
tion of other conrpanies, and in the testing of new portions of 
the territory. 

The Kentucky Rock Gas Company.—Hue company whose 
work is now to be described holds by far the most prominent 
place in the development of the Meade county field. It grew 
out of the work, in large part, that was done by Major Davis 
in his discovery of the geology and structure peculiar to the 
Brandenburg field, and it presently absorbed the interest of 
the Economic Heating Company, which was the first to appear 
in the field, and whose early tests have been already named. 
Its work was begun in the latter part of 1887. Tracts 
aggregating 7,000 acres were secured by Major Davis and his 
associates within the lines which he had determined to be 
geologically the most promising, so far as the relief of the 
field was concerned. The lands of the company occupy the 
Kentucky bottoms in an almost unbroken body directly oppo¬ 
site to the Tobacco Landing arch. Ample capital was furnished 
by leading citizens of Louisville, and the work of exploration 
went forward vigorously and judiciously under the management 
of Major Davis. The first well of the company was begun 

GEOL. SUR.—12 


I* 


178 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


December 5, 1887, and completed January 8, 1888. It was 
located on the Bicker staff farm, and is known as Bickerstaff 
No. 1. Its record is as follows: 


Drift beds . . . . 
Casing set at . . . 
Gas rock struck at 
Gas found at . . 


115 feet. 
310 feet. 
386 feet. 
392 feet. 


The gas appeared in large volume, and was allowed to burn 
from the open pipe of the well for three months. It was then 
kept closed for a month, and at the end of this time it was 
found, upon being opened again, to have been invaded by salt 
water to such an extent that its pressure was weakened and 
its volume decreased. In May, 1888, the daily volume was 
found to be 450,000 feet. 

It is not necessary to follow the individual history of the 
wells drilled by the comj)any, but a brief recital of the lead¬ 
ing facts in the development will be in place. A second well 
was drilled at a later date on the Bickerstaff farm, which 
proved to be a very large well for Meade county, and a re¬ 
spectable well for any field. Its record is as follows: 


Drive pipe.118 feet. 

Casing set at. 234 feet. 

Black shale struck at. 342 feet. 

Gas in the shale at. 426 feet. 


The well was shot with 45 pounds of dynamite, and greatly 
improved thereby. Its rock pressure was 119 pounds; its open 
pressure, 7 pounds in a two-inch pipe. Its daily volume was 
two million feet per day. 

The McGehee farm, lying directly opposite to the Tobacco 
Landing arch, became a necessity to the Bock Gas Company, 
on the theory upon which it was already working, but it was 
obliged to pay a round rate for the gas rights of the farm, viz : 
a thousand dollars a year cash rental. The first well on the 
farm bore out in the main the forecast above noted. The drift 
was 115 feet thick ; the black shale was struck at 398 feet; the 
well was finished at 410 feet. Gas was found in large volume, 
a measurement made soon after the completion of the well 
showing it to be not less than 1,500,000 cubic feet. 

On the Fountain farm three wells were drilled by the Rock 










AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


179 


Gas Company. Well No. 1 is located a mile back from the 
river and near the base of the hills. It produced gas in but 
small amount and salt water in large volume from the begin¬ 
ning. Well No. 2 was located in the bottom lands, near the 
river, and has the following record: 


Casing set at. 326 feet. 

Black shale struck at. f e( , t 

Well finished at.. f eet 

Gas found at top of shale and at.. feet. 


The gas was dry at first, but was soon overtaken by salt 
water. When first completed, a measurement made by Major 
Davis showed its production to be 1,539,000 feet per day, but 
in July the water had invaded it to such an extent that its 
volume did not exceed one and a quarter million feet per day. 
In Well No. 3 the gas rock was found to have fallen away from 
the level required in the field for dry gas. The top of the shale 
was struck at 446 feet. The flow of gas was feeble from the 
first, and was not improved by the effect of a torpedo, the salt 
water taking full possession of the rock thereafter. The brine 
from this well was found to be one degree stronger than any 
other salt water tested in the field, registering 108 degrees B. 
It had a temperature of 64 degrees F. as it escaped from the 
well. The ajiproximate measurement of the gas showed the 
daily yield to be thirty-six to forty thousand feet. 

Wells were also drilled by the Rock Gas Company on the 
Ditto, Hendricks, Benham, Shacklett and Shrewsbury farms. 
Each represents one phase or another of the history already 
traced. The Shacklett well added a new element in a single 
particular. Its record is as follows: 


Cased at. 348 feet. 

Gas rock struck at. 429 feet. 


Salt water was found as soon as the shale was tapped, and 
after it had been drilled into for 7 feet the water rose in the 
tubing 420 feet. A little gas was found at 7 to 10 feet in the 
shale, the entire thickness of the gas rock being found to be 
63 feet. The gas had energy enough when first struck to free 
the tubing from water once in 23 minutes in geyser fashion. 
The interval was soon extended to several hours, and presently 









180 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


the action ceased altogether. The well was then torpedoed, but 
the effect was only to increase the water. The gas was snuffed 
out finally by this treatment. 

Most of the wells named above, in association with the one 
here described, were, like it, overrun with salt water early in 
their history, and but one of these, viz: the Hendricks well, 
showed any considerable volume of gas. 

The Rock Gas Company had completed, within the first eight 
months of its active operations, 18 wells, all located within the 
territory described above, and it was able to count up, on fair 
measurements, a daily production of 11,000,000 feet from the 
tubed wells. 

Before describing the work of the latter company in piping 
the gas from the field to Louisville, it will be necessary to give 
account in few words of the work of a few other companies 
that were at this time organized, and that began work in the 
same general field. 

The First National Gas Company, already named, had drilled 
eight wells at the time when the examination of the field for 
the Geological Survey was begun. Its territory comprised 3,000 
acres, extending from Otter creek, in the Ohio Valley, where it 
joins the Rock Gas Company’s lands, to within two miles of 
West Point. The capital stock of the company is $1,000,000. 
Of this amount $200,000 of the stock was sold to provide funds 
for the operating expenses. Work was begun in November, 
1887. The well sections agreed in every respect with those 
already reported from the Brandenburg field, except that the 
rocks are slowly rising as they are followed up the valley. 

The Dooley well was the first to be completed for this com 
pany. In it the black shale was found at 400 feet below the 
surface. The well proved of little or no value as a source of 
gas. 

The next wells to be finished were a group half-way between 
West Point and Otter creek, and about three miles from Mul- 
draugh Station. They were drilled on the Boyd Withers, the 
Newton Withers, the Franzell and the Smith farms, and are 
known by the names of the land-owners. In several of these, 
and notably in the Boyd Withers, Smith No. 1, and Franzell 
wells, the gas was dry when the rock was reached, and it was 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 181 

also in good volume. As measured by Major Davis, tlie Fran- 
zell well showed a daily production of 360,000 cubic feet in 
May, 1888, one month after its completion. The Smith well 
is described as much the strongest of the group, but it began 
to throw a large volume of water with the gas within a few 
days after its completion. While dry the well was measured 
by Major Davis, and its production found to be 1,140,000 cubic 
feet per day. It threw a large volume of salt water during 
the entire summer of 1888. 

In this and other wells drilled in the same district by the 
First National Gras Company, the gas rock was struck at about 
300 feet below the surface, and the gas was generally obtained 
very near the top of the stratum. 

Another of the companies engaged in the development of the 
territory at this time was the Doe Run Company. Its terri¬ 
tory, which consisted of two farms, was contiguous to that of 
the Rock Gas Company, being included within the boundaries 
of the latter. The company drilled two wells early in 1888, 
viz: the Fowler and the Ricketts wells. The Fowler well was 
finished in February. Its record is as follows: 


Top of black shale. 396 feet. 

Small flow of gas at. 396 feet. 

Gradual increase until shale was penetrated at. 403 feet. 


The well was then shot with eleven pounds of dynamite, and 
the How of both gas and salt water was largely increased. The 
volume of the gas was measured in April by Major Davis, and 
was found to be 1,570,000 feet. In May salt water appeared 
in large quantity, and the volume and the pressure of the gas 
seemed to fall away rapidly thereafter. 

The Ricketts well was located one-half mile west of the well 
last named. It was cased at 340 feet and found the shale at 
425 feet. The gas appeared as soon as the rock was struck, 
but at eight feet in it a strong flow of salt water was reached. 
The gas escaping with the water was found, on measurement, 
to show a daily volume of 400,000 feet. 

Two wells were drilled on Otter creek—one by the First 
National Company, on the Griffee farm, and the second by 
the Grahamton Mill Company. The first produced a small 
flow of gas with a large quantity of salt water; the second 





182 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

was a salt water well, pure and simple, from the start. The 
shale was reported in it to be of a chocolate color instead of 
being black. 

Two wells were also drilled at and near West Point—one by 
Cox & Montgomery, in which the black shale was found at a 
depth of 260 feet. Salt water and gas, both in small amount, 
were struck at a depth of three feet in the shale. The second 
well was drilled by a West Point company in Pound Hollow, 
but salt water only was obtained from it. 

The Laswell well at West Point flows well, and furnishes gas 

to a number of houses. 

Numerous wells have been drilled since the date at which 
these facts were gathered ; part of them by the companies al¬ 
ready reported and part of them by companies that have been 
organized since that time. None of them, so far as known, has 
added any thing of importance to the records already given. 

Summary of the Facts of Production .—The facts of the held 
are shown with perfect distinctness in the review that has now 
been made. They can be summarized as follows: The black 
shale, which has an extensive outcrop at New Albany, opposite 
Louisville, just above the level of the Ohio river, and which 
takes cover directly below this point, is found at a depth of 
260 feet below the valley surface at West Point ; 300 feet at 
Otter creek; 400 feet at Tobacco Landing, and 500 feet at Bran¬ 
denburg, and in the interval between West Point and Bran¬ 
denburg it has become a reservoir of gas and salt water. In 
outcrop it is everywhere a source of shale gas, but the volume 
of such gas is always small and its pressure is light. In these 
wells, however, the daily volume of the gas may rise to millions 
of feet, and the pressure, though not very great on account of 
the shallow depth at which the gas is found, is still a true water 
pressure. 

All this is confusing to a high degree. It seems, at first sight, 
as if such an experience destroyed all possibility of practical or 
scientific prevision in the search for gas or oil. If there was 
any thing in regard to natural gas three years ago of which we 
could feel certain, it would seem to have been the facts as to the 
gas derived from the black shale. The formation had been fol¬ 
lowed through at least four States, and in all of them had been 


AN D ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 183 

found a source of gas, and the gas had been found to possess 
a few definite characteristics, viz: low pressure, small volume, 
great persistency, and the absence of salt water. All at once 
we come upon wells in which the gas derived from the black 
shale is unmistakably driven by a salt water column, or, in 
other words, is stored in a porous rock, and the volume of the 

wells reaches a maximum of two and one-half million feet per 
day. 

But the change is not as thorough as it would seem to be. 
In reality there has been but one factor in the Meade county 
field which differs from those found in other occurrences of 
gas derived from the black shale. It is this, viz: in the acci¬ 
dents of its history the stratum has here become in a measure 
porous, and, consequently, a reservoir for gas, oil and water. 
All the other facts noted above as characteristic of this field 
follow necessarily upon the transformation of the shale from 
an apparently impervious to a porous rock. 

Producing, as it does, reservoir gas, the Meade county field 
falls under the laws of gas accumulation that were formulated 
in chapter second. It is a stored product, accumulated in the 
arches and terraces of the shale, compressed there by the force 
of a water column which takes its rise in the nearest outcrops 
of the formation. Its source is undoubtedly the lower beds of 
the black shale itself, inasmuch as the gas agrees in chemical 
character with that everywhere yielded by the shale. The 
cover is either the Knobstone shale or the upper portion of 
the Black shale itself. The salt water must also be indigen¬ 
ous to the formation. There is no other source from which it 
can be derived. 

The relief of the rock in its most favorable portions is seen 
to be very light and wholly inadequate to the separation of the 
contents of the shale, viz: gas and water, for any great length 
of time. In all the records given above, the water is seen to 
have been very near the gas. Almost every well showed its 
presence within a few weeks at longest after it was drilled, 
and many found it associated with the gas from the beginning. 

A striking peculiarity of the Meade county field, and the only 
one which comes to light in all this experience, is the mainte¬ 
nance of the combined flow of the gas and water from the same 


184 KEPOKT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

wells for so long periods. Of this joint product of the rock 
the Moreman well furnishes the best example. For 25 years 
it produced salt water and gas without any great abatement 
of the flow of either, and without any manifest change in the 
proportions of these substances. In almost every other field, 
when salt water once finds access to the well, it gains rapidly 
at the expense of the gas, bringing about the complete extinc¬ 
tion of the latter after a brief period. 

An approach to this condition of things is found in some of 
the Berea Grit gas wells of central and eastern Ohio. The 
famous Neff wells of Coshocton county show this peculiarity, 
but in them the salt water finds entrance in small volume, and 
the gas can not be depended upon to remove it, but it must 
continually be kept down by the pump. 

The volume of gas produced by the Moreman well in August, 
1888, has been given on a preceding page as approximately 
200,000 feet per day. It is not at all probable that the original 
flow has been maintained throughout all these years without 
diminution; but assuming that it has been, what is the total 
volume of gas to be credited to this little drill hole at 200,000 
cubic feet per day? The calculation shows 1,825,000,000 cubic 
feet. We are certainly warranted in enlarging this amount 
to cover the diminution of the well to a total of 2,000,000,000. 
Such a fact brings out in clear light the peculiarity of the field 
which is now under consideration, viz: its persistency in spite 
of the presence of salt water. The Meade county gas pro¬ 
duction must, therefore, be considered exceptional to a marked 
degree in the history of gas fields. 

The Structure of the Field .—The structure of the central 
portion of the field is indicated in a general way in the accom- 
paying section, prepared from notes furnished by Mr. McDonald, 
the engineer of the Rock Gas Company, for the use of 
the Geological Survey. The records of the wells show the 
reality of structural relief, however, better than the 
section on the scale upon which the facts are there repre¬ 
sented. It has been demonstrated by the experience of 
several companies, and particularly by the work of the 
Rock Gas Company, that at the beginning of the devel¬ 
opment there were a few arches and terraces of dry gas in the 


Frank Ditto 
Fountain 


Doe Run Cr. 
McGehee 

Old Ditto 
9 Haynes 
g Benham 
- Board 
= Shacklett 
Economic 
McGeliee 

Bickerstaff 



Moreman 
// 

McAuliff 
T. K. Ditto & McAuliff 


Hendricks 

Dooley 


2 Rock Haven 


Eureka 


Pilcher 


Commercial 

Withers 












































































































































































AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 185- 

field, but that they were of small extent. None of them com¬ 
manded more than a few feet of dry rock with which the salt 
water was in contact everywhere at the proper levels. 

The fact that the gas is discharged with the water in most 
instances renders it difficult to ascertain to exactly what height 
hydrostatic pressure alone would lift the water-column in the 
well. In the Shackleford well a column of 420 feet was re¬ 
ported. This figure would indicate a rock pressure of the gas 
of about 190 pounds. Such a pressure has nowhere been at¬ 
tained ; but it must be remembered that the field had been open 
for 25 years when these measurements were taken. The highest 
rock pressure reported is 120 pounds to the square inch. 

Utilization of the Gas .—The activity that has been reported 
as existing in the Meade county field was by no means aimless 
exploration ; but, on the other hand, it was directed to a spe¬ 
cific and practical end, viz. : the supply of Louisville with 
natural gas for fuel and power. One of the companies, the 
organization and work of which have been previously de¬ 
scribed, viz: the Kentucky Rock Gfas Company, had the cour¬ 
age to undertake the serious task of bringing the gas to a 
market large enough to absorb all that could be made avail¬ 
able. This involved a very different character of expenditure 
from that which had been thus far required in leasing terri¬ 
tory and in drilling a few dozen shallow wells. Hundreds of 
thousands of dollars would now be required where thousands, 
or, at most, tens of thousands had been needed before. 

The company issued a circular in August, 1888, setting forth 
the work which it had undertaken, and inviting the co opera¬ 
tion of the citizens of Louisville. The substance of the circu¬ 
lar is introduced here, as it presents the views that were held in 
regard to the character of the Meade county gas field better 
than any statements frowi outside observers could do : 

The Kentucky Rock Gas Company has for some months been maturing plans for 
supplying the city of Louisville with natural gas for heating purposes, both for the 
use of manufacturers and private consumers. Since the efforts of the Economic 
Heating Company were discontinued, this company became the pioneer in the gas 
territory of Meade county in this State, and as such, looking over the whole field 
there, they secured proprietary rights*on seven thousand acres of land, selected as 
being the most promising for large and continuous yield. 

A test of the value of their property has been made by boring a number of wells, 


186 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


all of which have yielded more or less gas, and have given to the company an aggre¬ 
gate daily output of eleven millions cubic feet of gas. 

The success of this company in establishing the large value of their property stim¬ 
ulated the formation of a number of other companies which have taken leases upon 
over thirty thousand acres of land in that vicinity, some ol which has been partially 
developed by the First National, Doe Run and Union Companies, with an aggregate 
daily production of six and one-half millions cubic feet of gas. 

These facts have practically demonstrated that the gas territory of Meade county 
nnd vicinity is of far greater value than, a year ago, the most sanguine would have 
felt justified in believing. 

Unquestionably it may be confidently said that the territory may be relied on to 
furnish to the city of Louisville natural gas in quantity sufficient for present de¬ 
mands, as the present yield, seventeen and one-hall millions, is from a small part ol 
it, and much the larger part is yet entirely undeveloped, and is held in reserve for 
future increased requirement. 

There is also good reason for reliance upon permanence ol production, for the reason 
that the well bored twenty-six years ago on the farm of Mr. Moreman is now yield¬ 
ing the same quantity as when it was first put down, and the wells bored during 
and since last fall show no diminution in yield since completion. 

In this respect the territory compares favorably with the Pennsylvania, Ohio and 
Indiana districts, the first-named having enjoyed uninterrupted supply for five years 
past, giving to Pittsburg a new lease of supremacy for her manufacturing interests. 

The commercial value to our city of an adequate supply of natural gas can not be 
overestimated. It is closely allied with the interest of owners of real estate, of mer¬ 
chants, manufacturers, and, indeed, of every citizen; it will do more to promote 
rapid increase of our population, to augment the number and importance of manu¬ 
factures, to add to the wealth of our city and the comfort of our citizens than any 
other available agency. 

It is, therefore, an event in which every citizen has a direct interest. 

The Kentucky Rock Gas Company, fully convinced of these facts and of the im¬ 
portance of co-operative action for the attainment of the best results for their own 
interests and the public good, have offered favorable contracts to producing com¬ 
panies for their gas, and have concluded a contract with the First National Gas Com¬ 
pany for their product. 

Their policy will be to promote production as may be necessary to supply increased 
demand, and thus avail the entire product of the territory for the demands of our 
city. 

Thus fortified with a large present supply and abundant good territory as a reliance 
for increased demand, the company have obtained from the city of Louisville the 
right to lay their mains and pipes through the streets and alleys of the city, which, 
in recognition of its great importance to the city, was promptly granted on applica¬ 
tion. 

They have determined to lay a pipe line to the city, and to distribute the gas to con¬ 
sumers. To do this will require a large outlay of money, which they propose to raise 
at home, and in such manner as to share benefits with the purchasers of the com¬ 
pany’s bonds, to be issued to the amount of $500,000, as authorized by the charter of 
the company. This amount will enable the company to lay its main pipe to the 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


187 


city and through a large area within it, with ability to make further extensions as 
wanted, from reserved assets and current earnings. 

The bonds will be made payable in twenty years from October 1, 1888, with the 
option to the company to pay them at any time after five (5) years, with attached 
coupons for payment of semi-annual interest, on April 1st and October 1st of each 
year, at the rate of six per cent, per annum. 

They will be issued in denominatious of $1,000, $500 and $100, the smaller amounts 
being intended to give an opportunity to citizens of small means to unite in a popular 
movement for the public good. The price of the bonds will be par; they will be 
placed with the Fidelity Trust and Safety Vault Company as trustee, to be paid for 
by subscribers therefor as follows, viz.: 35 per cent, on September 15th, 35 per cent- 
on November 1, 1888, and 30 per cent, on January 5, 1889, the purchaser having the 
benefit of interest on the bonds irom October 1st, and also to receive of the stock of 
the Kentucky Rock Gas Company fifty per cent, of the amount of bonds subscribed 
and paid for, that is to say, that for each $1,000 bond purchased $500 of the stock of 
the company will be delivered with the bond, and in like proportions for the smaller 
denominations. 

Under the conditions stated, it is not an extravagant estimate to say that the divi¬ 
dends on the stock will be ten per cent, per annum, which, being realized, will, in 
most cases, be nearly or quite sufficient to pay for cost of gas or other fuel consumed 
by a family of average size. 

With this presentation of the plans and purposes of the company, thus fully made, 
the Kentucky Rock Gas Company ask a prompt subscription by our business men and 
citizens for the bonds to the full amount of $500,000. 

If this is done, the company will proceed at once to lay their mains to and through 
the city, and make connections with the property of consumers subscribing therefor, 
with the expectation of furnishing gas to them before the close of this year. 

The action foreshadowed in the circular of the company was 
soon entered upon. There was raised by the company $400,000 
in the way indicated above, and the construction of a pipe line 
was forthwith begun. An eight inch wrought iron pipe, of the 
most approved quality, was laid from the field to the city, [a 
distance of 32 miles, and a distributing service in the city was 
carried forward at the same time. 

The important fact that the gas of this field, with a maximum 
initial pressure of no more than 120 pounds to the square inch, 
would be unable to transport itself through the line in quantity 
large enough to meet the demand, practically and commercially, 
was recognized by the company from the first, and a pumping- 
station became an essential part of its plans. 

Pumps had been introduced at many places during the last 
few years to reinforce the declining pressure of the various gas 
fields. In a few cases it would appear that satisfactory results 


188 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

have been attained from such use. The company sought to 
duplicate this successful experience, and established at West 
Point, intermediate between Louisville and the gas held, two 
Clayton compressors. (No. 9.) During the closing months of 
1888, while this work was going forward, the Geological Survey 
was urged to furnish a preliminary report of the observations 
made in its interests in the Meade county held. Such a 
preliminary report was prepared and published in part in 
the newspapers of the State. (Courier-Journal, December 12, 
1888.) In it as favorable a view as the facts would allow was 
taken of the held. Special attention was called to the persist¬ 
ent and peculiar character of the gas as shown in the Moreman 
well, and the geological sagacity and scientihc character of the 
explorations conducted by the Rock Gas Company was fully 
vouched for. The concluding paragraphs of the report were 
occupied with an answer to the question, how long will the 
gas held hold out ? These paragraphs are produced here: 

“No one duly acquainted with the history of gas and oil pro¬ 
duction in this country and elsewhere can, for a moment, doubt 
that in all their usual occurrences they are forms of stored 
power. There are no forces in operation that will ever'refill the 
reservoirs which the driller exhausts. Least of all, has nature 
the power to meet, with her slow and patient method of work¬ 
ing, the rapid depletions which our modern engineering skill 
can effect? The renewals of nature are adequate to the main¬ 
tenance for long periods of the weak outflows of gas and oil 
which we call ‘surface indications,’ but beyond this they can 
not go. 

‘ ‘ The bituminous matter, including gas and oil, of the black 
shale of Central Kentucky, and also the salt water that is 
found associated with the gas, are, in my opinion, undoubtedly 
stored products. The amount of them now existing in the 
shale is practically all that there ever will be. If brought to 
the surface on a large scale the salt water will gradually lose its 
strength, being replaced by fresh water that will follow it from 
the outcrops of the formation, and, in like manner, the volume 
and pressure of the gas will presently decline, as wells are 
multiplied. 

“ Is there enough gas in this great reservoir to justify the 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 189 

large expenditure that a pipe line from the gas field to Louis¬ 
ville requires ? It is obvious, I reply, that a few billion feet of 
gas brought to the Louisville market will suffice to return the 
capital invested in the entire plant, and also to duly reward the 
enterprising company that is solving the problem of making 
demand and supply meet, so far as this much-coveted fuel is 
concerned. The gentlemen who are engaged in the work have 
looked intelligently at all the available facts, and they have 
satisfied themselves that they occupy safe ground. This gas 
field, as already shown, stands by itself in several important 
particulars, and must make its own history. Let us hope that 
it will meet all reasonable expectations on the part of those who 
are developing it. 

“ In view of the ever-expanding enterprise of American towns 
and American manufactures, and especially in view of Ameri¬ 
can extravagance and wastefulness, it does not appear probable 
that natural gas will continue to supply for many decades, I 
will not say years, the favored districts that now enjoy it. But 
even if it proves transient, it still has a most important and 
beneficent work to do. It is bringing in an industrial and 
economic revolution of no small proportions, viz: the replace¬ 
ment of solid by gaseous fuel. It is educating people by an 
object lesson as to what constitutes a perfect fuel. The com¬ 
munities that have once enjoyed the luxury and economy of 
natural gas will be slow to return to the barbarism of raw coal, 
and heat and power will at no distant day be distributed in all 
our towns from central stations, as light is now supplied.” 

Just about this time a sharp speculative excitement broke out 
in Louisville in regard to gas lands, proved and prospective, 
and mainly the latter. The speculator added to the known gas 
territory a considerable part of Meade county. Fifteen or 
twenty new companies, and probably many more, were organ¬ 
ized forthwith, some of them claiming the gas rights of eight 
or ten thousand acres of land. The bonds of these companies 
were eagerly competed for in the markets of the city, and the 
daily transactions reached large figures. It is asserted on ap¬ 
parently good authority that during the height of the excite¬ 
ment the bonds of companies were bought and sold that had no 
claims on even an acre of land, and that had nothing to trade 


190 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

on in fact except a name more or less suggestive and sonorous. 
The fever ran its course in a few days, and died as suddenly as 
it rose. The movement was irrational to the last degree. 

The subsequent history of the field has brought more or less 
disappointment to the companies and individuals that invested 
their money in it, but gas continues to How through the pipe 
line that was laid to Louisville by the Kentucky Rock Gas 
Company. The pressure of the gas in the field fell rapidly 
after the widespread drilling already described was entered 
upon, coming down as low as 60 pounds, and even 40 pounds, 
to the square inch. The salt water, which was always aggres¬ 
sive, overran many of the wells that were left neglected ; but 
where it was taken care of properly by pumps, the gas lias 
shown the same remarkable tenacity that the original well dis- 
lilayed. A fair supply was brought into Louisville for the 
winter of 1890-1, most of which was turned to account as fuel 
for domestic use. The prospect is said to be good for a contin¬ 
uance of the same moderate supply for the next winter, and in 
fact for several years to come. The pressure of the field is now 
reported at 60 pounds to the square inch. 

Two companies are engaged in the manufacture of salt in the 
Meade county field from the brine that accompanies the gas, 
the latter being used for fuel. The supply of brine is said to 
be failing, both in quality and quantity. That the brine should 
lose its strength when drawn upon continuously is a result that 
would naturally be expected. The depth at which it is found 
is too shallow to allow of any great movement except by dilu¬ 
tion from the surface waters that enter the gas rock to the 
eastward. 

Further Explorations in the Ohio Valley. 

It was impossible that an interest as great as that aroused by 
the new expenditure and development in the Meade county 
field should be arrested by an abrupt and definite boundary. 
Numerous other towns in the Ohio Valley below Brandenburg 
were invited and encouraged, in part by the blazing well seen 
on the river bank in the last-named neighborhood, to test their 
own fortune in this regard. During 1888 and 1889 wells were 
begun in Stephensport, Lewisport, Cloverport, Hawesville, Hen- 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


191 


derson, Smithland, Paducah, and probably at various other 
towns beside. Back from the river, also, exploration was car¬ 
ried on at several points to be hereafter named. The Indiana 
side of the valley was also tested at various points. At Evans¬ 
ville, in particular, a deep and costly well was drilled. At Tell 
City, also, a deep well was drilled. 

Of the wells at Stephensport and Lewisport no minute records 
have been obtained. They were begun in the Chester lime¬ 
stone, and were carried to the Waverly, which is reached at 
a depth of 1,400 to 1,500 feet. Several veins of salt water were 
struck in the descent. Beyond this there was nothing note¬ 
worthy. 

«/ 

The Cloverport Wells. 

Cloverport has been the scene of a larger interest and more 
development than any other point in the valley except Bran¬ 
denburg. The drilling has been mainly carried on by home 
companies, of which there are at least four in the field with 
capital stocks ranging to a million dollars, and from two to 
three thousand acres of land each. The first well was com¬ 
pleted in June, 1889. Since that date eleven other wells have 
been drilled to the same horizon as the first. The surface rocks 
of Cloverport belong to the Chester formation. No better dis 
play of this great series is to be found in Western Kentucky 
than in Breckinridge county. The Chester sandstones give bold 
features to the immediate vicinity of Cloverport. The inter- 
stratiiied limestones, with their characteristic fossils, are also 
shown here in great distinctness. 

The first well was begun in the valley of Clover creek, within 
or near the southern limits of the corporation. It was driven 
through a series of St. Louis and Keokuk limestones to a 
depth of 896 feet, at which point a considerable vein of gas 
was reached. The well was estimated by competent observers 
to be at least equal to the average wells of Meade county. A 
somewhat minute record of this well is available, but the very 
frequent changes from limestone to shale, and back again, that 
occur in it have no such significance or persistency as to require 
an extended statement here. The drift clays of the valley oc¬ 
cupied the first 46 feet of the descent. Of the first 300 feet of 


192 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

the rock series, almost exactly 33 per cent, are shale. Of the 
next 550 feet the drillers’ record shows little but limestone, 
changing from soft to hard and from blue to grey, white or 
brown. A single stratum of sandstone 20 feet in thickness 
begins at 540 feet. Many of the limestone beds were rank 
with the petroleum which they carry. The gas is reported as 
having been found in two feet of dark grey porous limestone, 
overlaid by 100 feet or more of brown limestone, according to 
the record. There is nothing in the account which is furnished 
of this well to explain in any way the occurrence of the gas 
which it produces; but this fact need not surprise us. The 
driller’s interpretation and classification of the series that he 
penetrates is often quite different from that which the geolo¬ 
gist would make if he had equal opportunities for observation. 
At 400 feet salt water was found ; at 600 feet brine of 10 de¬ 
grees B. in strength, and very pure. The gas carries the usual 
odor of limestone oil. 

The fact that the first well struck gas made it certain that 
many other wells would be drilled in the neighborhood. Eight 
or ten wells followed at short intervals. Up to the present date 
twelve have been drilled in all, within a radius of one and a 
half miles from Cloverport, eight of which produce more or 
less gas, and the rest of them salt water. Two other wells are 
now being sunk, more with the hope of reaching a free flow 
of salt water than to obtain gas, inasmuch as a plan to utilize 
the former is now taking shape. 

The best of the wells producing gas is located on the river 
bank, near the flouring mill. Its daily yield is reported as 
two and one-half million feet. Two of the remaining wells 
furnish an ample supply of domestic fuel to the town, which 
has been piped for this purpose. Cloverport thus becomes 
the first town in Kentucky to secure the inexpressible con¬ 
venience of natural gas for fuel in quantities largely in excess 
of the demand. The gas answers an excellent purpose as an 
illuminant, and is used for this purpose also. The wells are 
troubled to some extent with water, which it is found neces¬ 
sary to keep down by constant care. If the various interests 
that now occupy the field can be so harmonized and combined 
that no new wells shall be drilled until the demand for gas 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


193 


approximates much more closely the supply, it will be greatly 
to the interest of the community. Every new well drilled 
necessitates new dangers to the field and new drafts upon it. 
More or less gas must be wasted by every new opening to the 
gas rock, and the danger that the upper waters will find their 
way to the gas reservoir are inevitably augmented by the mul¬ 
tiplication of wells. By the constant application of sound 
judgment and wise economy the town may continue to enjoy 
its great advantage for several years. But the presence of salt 
water throughout the series penetrated by the drill, as well as 
in portions of the gas rock itself in close proximity to the 
producing wells, makes it certain that an aggressive and never- 
sleeping enemy is in the field, whose final victory may be post¬ 
poned but can not be averted. 

Cloverport is near the eastern edge of the great coal basin 
of Western Kentucky and Indiana. The structure of this 
basin would forbid us to expect accumulations of gas or oil 
within it, unless it should be found traversed by minor uplifts 
or arches of the right character to furnish such relief as these 
substances demand for their reservoirs. In the normal con¬ 
dition of the coal basin we should have a right to expect salt 
water, and that only in the porous rocks that help to compose 
it. 


* Since the above was written, a more detailed examination has been made of 
the region about Cloverport, and a new well has been drilled at the brick-plant, 
on the eastern edge of town. The rocks, coming from the east, are dipping to 
the west with a moderate dip until a point a short distance east of Cloverport is 
reached. At Cloverport there are a series of small arches or anticlines in the 
rocks, followed by a sudden increase in the dip to the west. This increased dip 
rapidly carries the Chester rocks under and brings the coal measures up. The 
well at the brick plant is on the summit of one of these arches, as are two or 
three of the best flowing wells inside the town limits. The sudden change in the 
dip of the rocks practically puts Cloverport on the summit of an anticline, and 
makes the prospect for a longer life for the wells more favorable. 

The new well at the brick-plant was sunk through about the same series of for¬ 
mations as the others in the town, striking a good volume of gas at 872 feet in the 
same porous Keokuk limestone. The pressure, measured by steam-gauge, ran up to 
175 pounds. It is being burned under the boilers and in the kilns of the brick-plant, 
furnishing all the fuel necessary at present to run the plant. The working pressure 
is probably about 120 pounds. 

For a more detailed report on this section and a new gas field in Breckinridge 
county, the reader is referred to a report on the geology of Breckinridge county now 
in course of preparation. ' B H - 

geol. sur. —13 



194 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

A deep well has recently been drilled at Hawesville, but it 
produced only salt water. It was about 1,500 feet deep, and 
was carried into the Keokuk group. At Tell City also, on the 
Indiana side, a deep well was drilled, with a like barren record. 

Owensboro .—At Owensboro a well was drilled in 1882, for 
the water supply of Field’s distillery, to a depth of one thou¬ 
sand feet. The record was not kept in such shape as to furnish 
any valuable information as to the series penetrated. Several 
small coal seams and impure limestones are said to have been 
cut in the descent. At 765 feet a white sandstone was struck, 
which filled the four-inch pipe with a weak brine; at 900 feet 
a coal-black slate is reported, 70 feet in thickness. The water 
was growing less and less fit for the contemplated use as the 
drill descended, and consequently there was no motive to con¬ 
tinue the work beyond the point already reached. Every thing 
pertaining to the surface geology of Owensboro would lead 
us to expect there the normal structure of the coal basin, 
and such explorations as have been made lead to the same 
conclusion. Drilling was accordingly discouraged in the region 
by the representative of the Geological Survey. The energy 
of Owensboro that was available in the search for gas and 
oil, which every thriving town was bound to make, was not 
wasted on new trials of a series that had already been weighed 
in the balance and found wanting, but was directed to a field 
that contains at least some geological possibilities in this line. 
The tests referred to will be described on a succeeding page. 

Henderson .—This thriving town, when reached by the new 
interest in gas and oil, had the advantage of several fairly 
thorough tests of the underlying rocks that had been made 
at an early day for coal and salt water. Henderson is situ¬ 
ated near the center of the Western coal field of Kentucky, 
on an east and west line. The presence of coal underlying 
the town was long ago established, but between 1850 and I860 
two deep wells were drilled here, the records of which are 
preserved in Owen’s Geological Reports. The wells are known 
as the Burbank and Holloway wells. 

The Burbank well was located in one of the ravines above 
the town that led from the sandy plains to the river. Salt 
water was struck in it at various depths, and the final result 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 195 

was a vigorous artesian flow of brine, which has been main¬ 
tained apparently without diminution of volume to the present 
time. The brine is clear and sparkling, but it contains a small 
percentage of iron, which is deposited in the usual form of 
hydrated peroxide when it reaches the air. The temperature 
of the water is about 60 degrees F. The water has long been 
turned to some small account for hygienic purposes, being used 
both for drinking and for bathing. The structures, required 
for the latter use have been provided and maintained for many 
years. It is said by those who have followed the history of 
the well from the first that a tar-like scum was found upon 
the water in its early days, indicating a weak source of oil 
somewhere in its descent. 

The presence and the outflow of the salt water are, however, 
the chief features of the well, and they fully confirm the 
geological inferences as to the structure of the coal basin, to 
which reference has already been made. Of the various con¬ 
tents of the porous rocks which belong in this general section, 
only the salt water can be expected here. The coal basin is 
what its name implies, a trough from which gas and oil are 
excluded. 

The coal measures have been demonstrated by the drill, in the 
borings alluded to above, to continue to a depth of about 900 
feet below the surface, a six and a half feet coal seam being 
reported below 860 feet. Nine seams are shown in the Hollo¬ 
way well, ranging from one foot to six and a half feet in thick¬ 
ness. This well was carried to a depth of 1,024 feet. The main 
Newburgh coal seam is found in Henderson at 190 feet below 
the surface. The nearest remnant of the great showing of the 
coal measure rocks that originally occupied all this region to a 
height of several hundred feet above the river, but which have 
been removed in the progress of the vast erosion which the 
whole valley has suffered, is found four or five miles above Hen¬ 
derson, near the mouth of the Green river. Here the normal 
ravines and gorges into which the swift-flowing streams always 
carve the uplands and slopes from which they flow occur. The 
usual circumstantial accounts of lead and silver mines worked 
by the aborigines found a local habitation here, and here also 
some traditions of gas and oil have long existed. There is 


196 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


nothing, however, apparent in the surface rocks to warrant the 
belief in any considerable uplift at this point, and the drill 
should be expected to make the same sort of record that the 
other wells of the vicinity have shown. 

Some of the traditions of the oil excitement of 1865 still sur¬ 
vive in the neighborhood. A well was drilled at that time 
about sixteen miles south of Henderson, and just beyond the 
county line, in Webster county. At a depth of 430 feet a how 
of gas was struck, which increased to 536 feet, and which be¬ 
came so troublesome as to arrest the drilling at that point. The 
gas was ignited, and it maintained its flame for several weeks, 
exciting great curiosity and some uneasiness in the neighbor¬ 
hood. It was finally extinguished. The well was plugged to 
some small depth in the rock and the conductor hole was filled 
with earth. 

A Henderson company, recently formed for exploration in 
this line, concluded to make its first trial in this locality. The 
land was accordingly leased for this purpose, and the first thing 
done was the opening out of the old well, from which a small 
volume of gas still flowed after its long-continued repression. 
A new well was then located within 120 feet of the old one, and 
drilling was at once begun. The record obtained was as fol¬ 
lows : 


Drift. 

Sand rock. . . 
Blue shale, soft 
Hard rock. . . 
Coal. 


30 feet. 
8 feet. 
121 feet. 
1 foot. 
7£ feet. 


This seam, found at 161 feet below the surface, was thought 
to be the same seam reported in the Burbank well at Hender* 
son, at a depth of 861 feet. If this interpretation is a true one, 
there is a manifest and marked uplift of the series at this point. 
Gas was struck at 177 feet, 195 feet and 347 feet. The final 
pressure of these aggregate veins was estimated at 120 to 150 
pounds. At 430 feet water was reached, and the drilling was 
arrested at this point. A second well was forthwith located 
one-half or three-fourths of a mile nearer Henderson, the ob¬ 
ject of the drilling being to secure a supply of gas for the 
city. The results of the further explorations have not been 
obtained, but it is fair to conclude, from the lack of published 
information, that nothing of value has been obtained thus far. 







AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


197 


The costly drilling done within the last three years at Evans¬ 
ville, Indiana, may be briefly recorded here, as it has nearly the 
same significance for Henderson that it has for the opposite side 
of the river. A company, consisting of eight or ten members, 
was organized at Evansville in 1887 for the purpose of securing 
natural gas for the city, if it could be found by drilling. The 
company leased forty-five acres of land two or three miles to 
the north of Evansville, and began work at once. In April, 
1889, the first well had been carried down to a depth of 1,829 
feet. The contractor, after working more than a year upon the 
well, threw up the contract, and an expert driller was put in 
his place by the company on day wages. When he had been 
in charge of the work for 16 months he had deepened the well 
by about 250 feet. There had been expended on it up to April, 
1889, $19,000, or an average of more than $10 a foot. The com¬ 
pany was at this time seeking for public aid to continue the 
work to a depth of 3,000 feet. The city council it was expected 
would appropriate money from the public funds for the pur¬ 
pose of completing the so-called test. 

A record of the well is of comparatively small value, because 
of the confusion and uncertainty that attach to nearly all por¬ 
tions of it. Even the great land-marks, as, for example, the 
base of the coal measures, is not agreed on by those who have 
followed the work most closely. This horizon is probably 
found between 800 and 900 feet below the surface. It is agreed 
by all that under the coal measures a great body of sandstone is 
found. Distinct seams of pebble rock occur at several different 
levels. Among the horizons, determined by samples kept by 
the company, are the following, viz: sandstone at 932, at 1142, 
at 1235, at 1310, at 1598 feet. 

Salt water was found at several levels in the rock, but the 
strongest flow was obtained from about 1,400 feet. A little 
below 1,800 feet, a bowlder, so-called, was repoited, and dyna¬ 
mite was to be applied to it to allow the drill to pass. The 
great trouble and expense connected with the well resulted 
from the continual caving-in of some of the material passed 
through. A short-grained shale, carrying balls or bowlders of 
limestone, is counted the most dangerous element. 

It would be a waste of time, because of the unreliable char- 


198 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

acter of the record, to attempt to correlate the series reported 
here with the known geological section of the held. The 
Chester grouj) is apparently strongly represented in the sand¬ 
stones that make so conspicuous a part of the middle section 
of the well. Not a particle of promise has been found of an 
oil or gas held at any point in the descent, and there was none 
at the outset, as has been already shown. The center of a 
coal basin, while retaining in its structure the normal swamp 
upon which it was originally based, is, of all places, the most 
unlikely to prove a source of gas and oil. In fact, large accu¬ 
mulations in such geological situations are clearly impossible. 

Smithland .—At Smithland, in Livingston county, a deep well 
was drilled in 1888. It was begun in the upper portion of the 
Subcarboniferous series, and was continued to a depth of 1,200 
feet or more without valuable result, so far as has been learned. 
The region is very interesting, geologically, on account of its 
being traversed by one or more distinct fissure veins, the one 
nearest to the town carrying fluor-spar, galenite and blende, the 
latter, however, in small proportions. Large amounts of money 
have been expended here in explorations and in mining, but no 
adequate returns have so far been secured. Much remains to 
be learned of the geological structure of the district, in addition 
to Mr. Norwood’s interesting report, to which reference has 
been already made. Whatever mineral value may be developed 
in the fissure veins above named, it does not now appear that 
the district is likely to prove productive of the bituminous 
substances to which this particular examination has been di 
reefed. The same line of remarks applies to Paducah, where 
another deep well has been drilled within the last few years. 


The Rough Creek Anticline. 

There remains to be briefly described the drilling that has 
been done on the line of the Rough Creek Anticline, which 
has already been characterized as the most important struc¬ 
tural feature in the geology of the western half of the State. 
Its location and general direction will be borne in mind. These 
facts are indicated on the map of Kentucky flint accompanies 
this report. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


199 


The McLean County Wells. 

The first of the districts to be described lies a few miles to 
the north and west of Calhoun county. The history is sim¬ 
ilar to several of the histories already traced. It goes back 
for its beginning to 1865, the golden age of drilling in Western 
Kentucky, and, as usual, a tar spring is at the bottom of the 
exploration. Such a spring is found on what is known as the 
Mayo farm, on Longfall creek, about two miles north-west of 
Calhoun. The spring has been famous in the region from the 
earliest occupation of the country. A fairly generous flow of 
water boils out from the fractured sandstone stratum that 
makes the wall of the creek at this point, and with the water 
small globules of heavy oil, known as tar from the fact that 
it is black and viscid, are produced. The spring has been 
valued from the first for both water and tar, the two products 
being easily separated. A gum was sunk long ago around the 
spring, within which the oil accumulated for a few days at a 
time, while the water flowed away. The coating of tar was 
frequently removed from the gum and the surrounding area 
by the people of the neighborhood, by whom it was highly 
valued as a lubricant, and especially as an application for 
bruises and wounds of man and beast. A bottle of the tar 
was counted almost a necessity to the farmers of the region, 
and indeed its virtues became knowm outside of the immediate 
neighborhood. 

This fact was enough to attract the driller in his search for 
oil, and shortly after the war, Mr. A. J. Ayer, of St. Louis, 
put down a well within ten feet of the spring already de¬ 
scribed. At a depth of 30 feet in the sandstone he found the 
oil in larger quantity than was yielded by the spring, but dis¬ 
tributed, as in the spring, through a large quantity of water. 
Mr. Ayer began pumping the well, but the accounts vary as 
to the daily yield of the oil. Some place the amount as high 
as four barrels per day; none place it lower than two barrels. 
The price of rock oil was high at this time, a ban el readily 
commanding twenty, or even twenty-five, dollars. It was used 
mainly as lubricating oil. When the price of such oil was re¬ 
duced the production was suspended, but the original spring 


200 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

maintained its flow, and indeed does so to the present day. 
A second well was drilled at sixty feet distance from the well 
above described in 1865. It found oil in the thirty-foot sand¬ 
stone not far below the surface, which is the source of the oil 
in Well No. 1, but the drilling was continued to a depth of 
200 feet. Here a hard blue rock was struck, in which the 
progress of the tools was so slow that the attempt to pene¬ 
trate it was soon abandoned. The two wells have maintained 
a small production of oil to the present time. The amount 
does not exceed six to eight barrels a year, but the oil would 
be missed from the region around about if the production 
should entirely fail. It is now sold at about six dollars per 
barrel. 

Nine other wells were drilled in the last-named year, viz: 
1865, in the neighborhood of Calhoun. None of them reached 
a depth of more than 400 feet, and none of them reached a 
production in which either value or promise could be discerned. 
The stratification is much disturbed in the neighborhood of 
the spring. The beds pitch at varying angles, ranging from 
20 to 50 degrees, in a direction a little east of south. On the 
E. J. Ashton farm, in the Upper Calhoun precinct, about 
two miles from the tar spring, the Subcarboniferous limestone 
rises, in territory where the coal measures are due. The lime¬ 
stone beds exposed here are not less than 25 feet in thickness, 
and they rise to a height of 50 feet above the valley. The 
limestone is burned here for neighborhood use. It is highly 
fossiliferous, but the number of species found was small. 
Above the limestone a massive cliff of sandstone occurs, the 
lowermost 10 or 15 feet of which are distinctly, though not 
coarsely, conglomeritic, the upper beds of the stratum being 
fine-grained and flinty. The rocks that are shown at this 
point dip in a direction 10 degrees west of south at a rate of 
20 to 30 degrees. On the Gibson farm also, one mile west 
of Glenville, exploration was attempted in 1865. The owner 
of the farm had previously deepened a spring at the foot of 
a small hill near his residence for the purpose of obtaining a 
better supply of water, but the water proved to be petrolif¬ 
erous to such an extent that it could not be used for drink¬ 
ing purposes* but a little later, viz: in 1865, Hon. R. S. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 201 

Triplett, of Owensboro, had a shaft dug at this point to a 
depth of 12 feet. The shaft was carried down through a 
sandstone stratum, which yielded both oil and water, but no 
considerable accumulation of oil was found, and the work was., 
therefore, abandoned. 

At Lewis Station (Utica), a few miles to the eastward, a coal 
seam is worked, the dip of which is 1 in 12, to the northeast. 
The coal is considered to be Seam No. 9. This station, as well 
as the points above described in the Longfall valley, is directly 
on the line of the Rough Creek Anticline. 

It is evident, from the facts that have been recited, that at 
least a small amount of heavy oil is found accumulated in some 
of the coal measure sandstones along the line of the anticline. 
While the tests of 1865 can not be considered linal, especially 
on account of the shallow depths to which the wells were sunk, 
there is nothing in them that holds out any special encourage¬ 
ment to further drilling. They do not, however, serve to con¬ 
demn the territory in this regard. On geological grounds, the 
Ashton farm would seem to offer greater promise than any 
other point that was found in the neighborhood of Calhoun. 
The due relief of the strata is assured here by the occurrence 
of the Subcarboniferous limestone as a surface rock. 

The Sebree Wells. 

At Sebree, in Webster county, on the line of the Henderson 
branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, there is a notable 
display of the disturbed condition of the rock that belongs to 
the anticline already named. The Subcarboniferous limestones^ 
are brought to the surface here in a much disturbed condition. 
The beds have been broken in the process of uplifting into 
small fragments, and have been reunited by a deposition of 
calc-spar, the seams of the latter being an inch or less in 
thickness. From the base of the outcrop a strong sulphur 
spring rises. North of the limestone outcrop, and not more 
than forty rods distant from it, a four-foot coal seam is found 
at a depth of 40 or 50 feet below the surface. South of the 
town a massive and coarse sandstone occurs, rising from 50 
to 75 feet above the railroad. A slight arch occupies the 
middle portion of the exposed stratum. The sandstone is un- 


202 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

doubtedly of Coal Measure age, and may be on the horizon 
of the Anvil rock. The facts above set forth can be most 
easily explained by counting the date of the Rough Creek 
Anticlinal in this region as antecedent to the deposition of the 
Coal Measures. The outcrop of Subcarboniferous limestone, 
according to this view, was thrust up in a mountain-like mass 
from beneath the sea, in which and around which Coal Measure 
rocks were growing. These rocks now appear to abut uncon- 
formably against this ancient line of upheaval. That the pro¬ 
posed explanation is not to be applied to the whole history of 
the anticline is evident from facts previously stated, showing 
that the Coal Measure rocks are involved in it in many parts 
of its extent. According to this view, therefore, its history 
would cover more than a single geological period. Uplifts took 
place along this line of weakness in the crust before the Coal 
Measures were completed, and possibly before they were begun; 
but similar movements continued long afterwards, involving the 
later formed strata of this age. It is acknowledged that this 
explanation is supported by a scanty supply of facts, but if 
the coa mining that has been begun here is carried on vigor¬ 
ously, the underground work will be likely to show within a 
short time whether there is any foundation for such a suppo¬ 
sition as has been offered here. In any case, uplifts along such 
extended lines of fracture, at widely separated intervals in 
time, are geological phenomena of comparatively frequent oc¬ 
currence in disturbed regions. 

A well was recently drilled in Sebree, in the Subcarboniferous 
ridge above referred to, to a depth of 90 feet, the object of the 
drilling being to obtain a supply of water to be used for the 
steam production of the adjacent mill. In this well a small 
quantity of black and heavy oil, almost tar-like in consistency, 
is found. The quantity is insignificant, but the product has 
thus far been constant, the oil appearing with the water when¬ 
ever the well is pumped. Its occurrence is of interest as con¬ 
nected with the uplift above described. 

To several of the river towns that were anxious to drill wells 
in search of gas or oil, and whose location seemed on the whole 
so discouraging as to any considerable amounts of these sub¬ 
stances being found in their own underlying rock series, the 


AND ASPHALT HOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY 


203 


suggestion was made that tests which would have some possi 
bility of successful outcome might be made along the line of 
the Rough Creek Anticline at its nearest accessible points. 
One or more companies were formed for this purpose at Owens¬ 
boro, and some tests were planned of the rocks at Sebree, but 
the outcome of the tests, if such were made, has not been 
learned. It is safe, however, to suppose that they were unsuc 
cessful, for if the drilling had been successful the facts would 
doubtless have attained general circulation. 

Other points along the anticline that would well deserve the 
driller’s tests, if such were to be made anywhere in the western 
Coal Measures of Kentucky, are on the extremities of the uplift 
in Grayson and in Union counties, respectively. In Grayson 
county the Lower Coal Measures are involved in the anti 
cline. At Leitchfield the uplift takes the form of a low arch, 
which seems to meet every geological demand in the way ot 
proper structure for gas and oil accumulation. One or more 
companies have been formed, it is understood, to test this region 
in a practical way To the results of drilling here, great geo 
logical interest would attach. 

Chalybeate Hills .— In Union county, again, on the western 
extremity of the anticline in Kentucky, the disturbance is of 
a kind that suggests possible favorable structure for these 
bituminous accumulations. In the Chalybeate Hills, three 
miles southeast of Morganfield, and in the Bald Hill, six 
miles west of the same town, marked uplifts of the strata 
occur. Directly south of the Chalybeate Spring, in the former 
location, the strata are found dipping at an angle of forty 
degrees to the southward. In the adjoining coal field the seams 
of coal are found pitching at the same or at least at a high 
angle. The spring itself breaks out from a Coal Measure 
sandstone that occupies nearly a vertical position. The sand¬ 
stone is massive, and, in places, conglomeritic, and carries 
imprinted upon it the impressions of characteristic Coal Meas¬ 
ure trees as Lepidodendra.. 

In the Deer Lick Hollow, one-half mile west of the Spring, 
a heavy limestone, apparently of Subcarboniferous age, conies 
to the surface. Its place in the normal arrangement of the 
rocks would be 800 to 1,000 feet below the surface Salt water 


204 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


escapes from it in some weak springs, as the name of the* 
hollow implies. 

The best location for a test well would seem to be to the 
north of this great disturbance, and a half mile or more distant 
from the line of uplift. 

The Sulphur Springs, six miles east of Morganfield, mark 
another outcrop of the Subcarboniferous limestones, and they 
occur here in much greater force than in the Deer Lick Hollow. 
A number of strong springs, three of them carrying notable 
quantities of sulphur water, occur on the place, emerging from 
a somewhat lower level than the outcrop. The limestone has 
been burned on the premises to a considerable extent in past 
years. The waters of the springs were formerly held in high 
repute, and a summer hotel, large enough to accommodate 
several hundred guests, found full occupation before the war. 

The Highland Lick Well. 

The Highland Lick Salt Works of Webster county, fifteen 
miles east and a little south of Morganfield, and just beyond 
the Union county line, may be properly named in this connec¬ 
tion. They form a conspicuous outcrop on the line of broken 
and tilted rock which is now under consideration. Brine has 
escaped from this outcrop in springs of small volume from 
early times. The Indians made salt here for a period long an¬ 
terior to the occupation of the country by the whites. Frag¬ 
ments of their clay kettles and of other utensils employed in 
the manufacture are still found here. Furthermore, it is stated 
by old residents, whose testimony is counted entirely trust¬ 
worthy by those who knew them personally, that ashes ancl 
charcoal were found in one well at a depth of 35 feet below 
the surface. This would imply a distant and even prehistoric 
date for the beginning of the utilization of the spring. In 
1796 Colonel Robinson, a Revolutionary soldier, made this 
Salt Lick the center of a survey, and had 15 or 20 wells dug 
in the immediate vicinity, the water of which was raised by 
a well-sweep, and used in a salt-block of small size. Up to 
the date of the discovery of Kanawha salt, the manufacture 
was maintained at Highland Lick. Col. Robinson employed 


AND ASPHALT HOCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 2<>5 

forty hands, each of whom took up land by occupation, deed¬ 
ing it back to him, and the new subdivision and distribution 
of the land has been but recently effected. 

In 1865 a company was formed, of which Dr. R. H. C. Rhea, 
of Morgantield, was a leading stockholder, for the purpose of 
testing this district for oil. A well was begun near the brine 
spring, and carried down to a depth of about 525 feet. A 
little gas was found in descending, and a dark and heavy oil 
was struck in small quantity at the depth above named. 
Water was also struck in connection with the oil. The force 
of the gas was strong enough to clear the pipe of both water 
and oil by intermittent flow. The well was finally tubed with 
a two-inch pipe, and a pump was applied, but the production 
was never any thing more than inconsiderable, and the work 
was, consequently, soon abandoned. 

The nearest recent test that has been made along the line 
above described for this region is at Sliawneetown, Illinois. 
A well 1,500 feet deep was drilled there in 1888. Shawnee- 
town, it may be remarked, is on or near the direct line of the 
Rough creek anticline. At a depth of 500 feet a small vein 
of gas was struck. At 1,500 feet salt water was set free in 
such a quantity that the drilling was brought to an abrupt 
conclusion. 

This statement of facts concludes the account that was un¬ 
dertaken of the search for oil and gas in the Subcarboniferous 
and Coal Measure rocks of Western Kentucky, and of the re¬ 
sults of such search as far as they have been obtained. Wells 
have been drilled at a few other points, possibly, in addition 
to those named in this review, but all the production that has 
become in any way important has probably found place in these 
pages. The aggregate, it must be confessed, is very small. The 
Meade county gas field was by far the most important of these 
productive districts, and if the gas had been left to the people 
of Meade county, it could have been made to render a long and 
invaluable service to them, but it proved itself altogether want¬ 
ing in adaptation to exploitation on the large scale that was 
attempted, and it has brought prospective loss on the company 
that undertook the work. 

The Cloverport gas field Infs not yet demonstrated its charac¬ 
ter, but a long lease of life is scarcely to be expected from it. 


206 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


Of the oil production, 'Glasgow and its vicinity monopolize 
the present interest; but thus far there has been but little pro¬ 
duction brought to the surface by the somewhat extensive and 
costly exploration that has been and is still going forward there. 
In a word, the valuable oil and gas fields of the western half of 
Kentucky, if such there are, remain to be discovered ; and the 
results of the large expenditures begun in 1865, renewed in 
1885, and maintained up to the present date, are not assuring 
as to the successful outcome of the search, however energetic 
and persevering it may be. 


TAR SPRINGS AND BITUMINOUS SANDSTONE. 

The last section of the natural accumulations of the bitumin¬ 
ous series in Western Kentucky remains to be briefly described 
under the head given above. The two phases, tar springs and 
bituminous sandstone or asphalt rock, as it is often called, are 
named together because they belong together. The so-called 
asphalt rock is one of the stages of a tar spring, and frequently 
the last stage ; and the tar, in like manner, is an oxidized pro¬ 
duct of petroleum. A tar spring is in fact an oil spring, the 
flow of which is so slow that the oil undergoes oxidation before 
it escapes from the rock, the change being accompanied by a 
partial loss of liquidity and a blackening of the entire product. 
In like manner, when the viscous product called tar is further 
acted upon by the atmosphere it loses at last its liquid character 
altogether, and remains in hardened masses around the sources 
from which it escaped. The last phase is called asphalt ; but 
this form of the accumulation is found in comparatively small 
amount. What passes generally for asphalt rock is a sand¬ 
stone more or less charged with the hardening tar. So far as 
observed, it is in all instances found in outcropping strata; or, 
in other words, in beds lying above the drainage level and cut 
by natural sections. In no instances, so far as known, has it 
been found in any boring carried below the level of the valleys. 

The facts as to the occurrences of these substances can, how¬ 
ever, be best presented in the description of some of the actual 
examples. 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


207 


Tar Springs of Breckinridge County. 

The tar springs of Western Kentucky can scarcely have failed 
to attract the attention of any of the races of men that have 
ever occupied this territory. We know that the Indians who 
were displaced by the present occupants of the region were well 
acquainted with them ; and, further, that they set a high value 
on this bituminous production. By exclusion of the air from 
abrasions and wounds, and possibly by some more definite cura¬ 
tive action, the tar came to be recognized by them as a valuable 
application for bodily injuries. In one case in Western New 
York, when giving up their title to lands previously occupied 
and claimed by them, they made reservation of a spring from 
which they annually gathered small quantities of heavy oil, 
which was on the way to the same state which the tar of the 
Kentucky springs has already reached. The early white set¬ 
tlers of Kentucky followed the traditions and practices of their 
predecessors in this regard. The water of these oil springs is 
often sulphurous, and such springs as showed this quality soon 
acquired reputation as medicinal spring waters in addition to 
the value credited to them for their petroliferous contents. A 
good representative of the class can be found in the famous Tar 
Springs of Breckinridge county. They are situated about four 
miles south of Cloverport, on a small tributary of the stream 
known as Tar Creek. The Chester division of the Subcarbonifer- 
ous system is finely displayed in this immediate region, consist¬ 
ing of inter stratified sandstones and limestones, with occasional 
beds of shale. One of the sandstones in particular is massive, 
occasionally attaining a thickness of 75 or 80 feet. This is the 
third massive sandstone in the Chester above the top of the St. 
Louis limestone. In Breckinridge county it is a moderately 
coarse and fairly pure rock, portions of it being white enough 
for the common sorts of glass manufacture; but a few ferrugin¬ 
ous stains shut it out from the highest grade. The rock is also 
quarried on a large scale for a building stone. In years past 
the stone had a good reputation for this use. 

The springs are found at the base and in the recess of an 
overhanging cliff of sandstone, 80 feet in perpendicular height, 
and 200 feet across the recess or amphitheatre. A sheet of 


208 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

limestone abounding in crinoidal remains and other fossils, and 
showing evidence of shallow water at the time of its deposit 
by the ripple marks that cover some of its beds, lies directly 
below the sandstone. This limestone may be the source of the 
petroleum from which the tar is derived. Its uppermost beds 
are blackened with the weathered oil, but the lower portion of 
the sandstone is still more heavily charged. Upon the upper 
surface of the ledge there are also found masses of asphalt 
which seems to show that the petroleum has at some previous 
time found its way through the whole sheet of sandstone to its 
present surface. The springs, which are feeble in volume, issue 
from the line of junction of the sandstone and limestone. The 
waters are moderately charged with sulphuretted compounds, 
containing globules of oil, which are generally arrested at the 

margin of the outflow of the spring, and here they undergo a 

✓ 

further thickening and darkening. This constitutes the tar, 
and the accumulation has become large enough in many in¬ 
stances to make it possible to dip a few quarts from the spring 
every week or two. 

The same geological level, viz. : the junction of the great 
sandstone with its underlying limestone, carries like contents 
at numerous points in the vicinity. A good example is seen 
in what is known as Smart’s Spring, on the west side of the 
creek. Another is found in the Ohio Valley, two miles below 
Cloverport; and a third section of the tar rock appears two 
miles south of Cloverport, at a railroad cutting, on a line that 
leads back from the river to the cannel coal mines. Not all 
the springs that issue from this horizon are, however, petrolif¬ 
erous or sulphurous. Within 20 or 30 rods of the tar springs, 
now being described, a fair volume of excellent potable water 
flows out from the base of the sandstone in a perennial spring. 
It has been the main reliance for all the ordinary uses of the 
people that visit the springs. 

The Breckinridge county tar springs were widely known and 
highly esteemed through the Mississippi Valley before the war. 
Excellent accommodations were provided in the way of hotels 
and cottages. Visitors from the Gulf States, in particular, 
found their way hither in large numbers every summer. The 
scenery is remarkably picturesque and beautiful, and the 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


209 


waters enjoyed a high reputation for their curative qualities. 
Judging from the current accounts, it seems probable that 
they did their best service as an external application in skin 
diseases; but they are also credited with all the virtues that 
are generally looked for in waters called mineral waters. The 
buildings have been mainly destroyed by fire, and the springs 
have been entirely neglected, as far as care of them is con¬ 
cerned, for more than a score of years, but still they are visited 
by a good many people from the surrounding country. Various 
schemes for restoring them to their old place of prominence and 
service have been devised. Great advantages over the old con¬ 
ditions would now be found in the railway connection which 
has been established through the valley. Whether the mineral 
waters could be developed in large enough amount to justify 
a provision for the accommodation of the public, remains to 
be seen. 

One of dhe main horizons of the tar springs of this portion 
of Kentucky has now been described in the case of a con¬ 
spicuous example. The facts are seen to be as follows: The 
Subcarboniferous limestones, both of the St. Louis and of the 
Chester Group, are found to be charged with petroleum, which, 
by a system of slow exchanges, in which water takes a part, 
has risen to the upper beds of the stratum, and when the con¬ 
ditions have been favorable, has passed out of the limestone, 
in large part, into the overlying sandstone. Escaping from 
this sandstone, it has given rise to the tar and asphalt rock, 
the gradations between the two being dependent on the con¬ 
ditions for oxidation that the rock has provided. This horizon 
may be known as the Chester * Asphalt rock. 

Tar Springs of Grayson County. 

Other excellent examples of the same horizon are found in 
the valley of the Big Cliftv creek and its tributaries in Gray¬ 
son county. A section previously reported may be repeated 
here for the purpose of presenting more convenient reference 
to the question involved. 

At the Pearl Ford of Big Clifty, three miles north of Gray- 

* Since the above was written, a quarry of Asphalt rock has been opened at Gar¬ 
field Breckinridge county, in the Second Chester Sandstone, and Asphalt rock is 
being shipped to Buffalo, N. Y., to be used on the streets of that city. 

GEOL. SUR.—14 



210 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


son Springs Station, a section of the series shows the following 
elements, in descending order: 


1. Sandstone, surface rock, thin bedded.• 

2. Limestone, shaly at top, bluish in color, carrying Archimedes, Pentre- 

mites, and numerous other fossils, and also Oolitic in stiucture (Las- 
kaskia limestone). . 

3. Sandstone, massive and uneven bedded. 

4. Limestone, petroliferous, showing in bed of creek. 


30 feet. 


36 feet. 
65 feet. 
15 feet. 


On the Whitfield farm, a mile or two below this point, the 
Big Clifty sandstone is found to be an asphalt rock under the 
following conditions: At the base of the limestone (the Archi¬ 
medes limestone, above described as number 2 of the section), 
five feet of a fine-grained blue clay, called kaolin, occur. This 
makes a water horizon, a constant outflow in seeps and springs 
occurring here from the descent of the waters at this point. 
The same sheet of clay prevents the ascent of oil into the sand¬ 
stone to any higher level; and accordingly we find the upper¬ 
most beds of the sandstone variously, and sometimes quite 
heavily, charged with tar in its several stages of hardness. 
The accumulations are spotted in character, being manifestly 
affected by the physical conditions of the rock. Change in the 
grain, or any unusual hardening in the sandstone, is shown at 
once in a reduced percentage of bituminous matter. 

Another series of tar springs and exposures of asphalt rock 
is found nine miles south of Grayson Springs, within a few 
miles of the southern boundary of the county. This accumu¬ 
lation belongs to a different geological horizon from that 
already described. It is found in a sandstone, as in the ex¬ 
amples already given, but the sandstone in this case is the 
Conglomerate sandstone of the Coal Measures. It is uneven- 
bedded, fairly massive, and carries a few quartz pebbles of 
small size. Pebbles of sandstone and shale are also found in 
a ledge near the bottom of the sandstone. It directly over- 
lies a limestone of Chester age. The section shown on the 
Barker farm is as follows: 


Conglomerate sandstone, TO to 15 feet in outcrop; uneven bedded, moderately 
coarse; carries notable quantities of oil and tar. 

Conglomerate shale and shale sandstone, 6 feet; charged with oil and tar. 
Subcarboniferous limestone, 2 feet, with large accumulations of tar. 
Subcarboniferous limestone, solid, fossiliferous; crinoidal at bed of run; also carry¬ 
ing oil. 

The oil is unmistakably derived from the limestone in the 






AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


211 


cases previously noted, and has risen in the sandstone until 
obstructed by some physical change in the rock. 

The four horizons that have now been described as asphalt¬ 
bearing, viz: the three Chester sandstones and the Conglom¬ 
erate sandstone, are doubtless reinforced to some extent by 
other sandstones in the series, carrying the same contents ; but 
these two formations unquestionably constitute the main hori¬ 
zons of tar and asphalt rock in Western Kentucky. The 
exposures of these horizons are large, and they extend into 
Indiana as well. The regions in which they are to be found 
are well indicated by a geological map of the districts. Taking 
a belt live miles in breadth on each side of the boundary of 
the Coal Measures, the territory most productive of these sub¬ 
stances will be found included within it. The only excep¬ 
tions noted are in the cases of uplifts that have taken place 
within the Coal Measures, by which the Subcarboniferous lime¬ 
stone and the associated sandstones have been brought up to 
the surface outside of their normal boundaries. 

Percentage of Bituminous Matter. 

The bituminous sandstone, in its most pronounced phases, 
has no other bond but the bituminous matter. When the tar 
is dissolved or burned out of the mass, nothing but unconsoli¬ 
dated sand remains. This is in the main white, like the por¬ 
tions of the rock that have not been overrun with these foreign 
products. As to the amount of tar held in the rock, it is 
impossible to make any general statement. The richest por¬ 
tions of the rock, selected from the Barker farm last named, 
were examined with this reference by Dr. Peter, Chemist of 
the Survey, with the following result: 

Best sample, lost by burning.*J.4 P er cent ’ 

Second sample, lost by burning.. per cent. 

Another sample of asphalt rock from Hardin county gave 
the following result when submitted by Dr. Peter to the same 

treatment: 

Loss by burning.8.75 per cent. 

Larger proportions than these have obtained currency, but 
probably none of the more careful determinations would show 
a maximum of more than 10 per cent. 





212 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

Dr. Peter further reports that the tar is readily soluble in 
benzine and ether; and when these last named substances are 
driven off, after having dissolved the tar, the residue is heavy 
oil. From a maximum percentage, as indicated above, the 
proportion of bituminous matter falls away, sometimes abruptly 
and sometimes by slow degrees, until a mere stain only can 
be recognized in the rock. A total amount of two to four 
per cent, gives a characteristic bluish cast to the rock. 

Summing up the facts to which attention has now been 
called, it can be said that in the outcrop of four great sand¬ 
stones, viz: the Garfield, Big Clifty and Tar Springs Ches¬ 
ter sandstones and the Conglomerate sandstone of the Coal 
Measures, as they are found in Western Kentucky, numerous 
occurrences of oil, derived in all cases from the limestones of 
the Subcarboniferous series that directly underlie the sand¬ 
stones, are met with. And further, these oils pass, by natural 
processes of oxidation, into a viscous form called tar, and a 
solid or a semi-solid, properly called asphalt. These oxidized 
products are retained in large amount in the outer or most ex¬ 
posed portion of the porous .sandstones that are found in con¬ 
tact with the oil-bearing rock. They are in their very nature 
marginal and superficial. The conditions under which they 
can be formed have been already distinctly indicated. The 
rock must be exposed to the action of the atmosphere. All 
the deposits so far known are, without exception, derived from 
planes above the drainage levels of the districts in which they 
occur. 

Utilization of the Bituminous Rock. 

What has been thus far written upon the occurrence of tar 
springs and bituminous rock in Western Kentucky has been 
directed exclusively to the scientific relations of the facts; but 
at the present time there is another side to the question, viz: 
an economic side, and this commands considerable attention in 
the regions where these rocks apj>ear. The bituminous rock is 
being introduced into the cities of the country on a consider¬ 
able scale as a paving material, and the territory in which it 
occurs is being rapidly covered by options, or being bought in 
large blocks in fee-simple. Speculative excitement is already 
manifested in acquiring the ownership of what is counted prom¬ 
ising territory, and prices six or eight times the actual agricul- 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 215 

tural value of the land are being offered for tracts containing 
good phases of the asphaltic sandstone. 

The use of asphaltic rock for such purposes is comparatively 
new in this country. As an architectural bond, asphalt, as has 
already been shown, goes back to the very dawn of recorded 
history, but in road-making our experience is mainly limited 
to the last three decades. 

Bituminous limestone was the first to be turned to account 
for these uses. The limestones thus far most widely used are 
found in France and Gfermany. A little is also obtained from 
Sicily. The most famous French localities are Seyssel and Val 
de Travers. The vicinity of Limmer furnishes the main supply 
for Gferman cities. The material taken from the quarries of 
these districts has been used in the construction of about fifty 
miles, in the aggregate, of street pavements in Paris, London, 
Brussels, Berlin, and one or two other European cities. These 
pavements are laid in some of the most conspicuous streets of 
the respective cities in which they have been used, as, for in¬ 
stance, in Cheapside in London, and they have come to be very 
widely known on this account. In addition to streets, about a 
thousand miles of sidewalks, made from the same materials, 
have been laid in European cities within the last few years. 

The limestones employed for this purpose are shown by 
published analyses, largely taken from Die Zeitschrift fur 
Transportwesen und Strassenbau , Berlin , 1890-91 , to have 
the composition given below: 

1. Val ’de Travers.France. 

\ 

2. Seyssel.France. 

3. Forens.Franee. 

4. Lobsan.France. 



1 

2 

3 

4 

Water lost at 90° C. 

0.50 

1.90 

0.20 

3.40 

Products dissolved by bisulphide carbon. . . . 

10.10 

8.00 

2.25 

11.90 

Insoluble mineral matter. 

0.45 

0.10 

0.05 

1.25 

Alumina and oxide of iron. 

0.25 

0.15 

0.15 

• • , • 

Carbonate of lime. 

87.95 

89.55 

97.00 

69.00 

Carbonate of magnesia. 

0.30 

0.10 

0.70 

0.30 

Sand. 




3.05 

Sulphur (5 per cent.), and iron with sulphur 




9.45 

































214 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL Q AS 

The Forens rock (No. 3) can not be used without being en¬ 
riched by the addition of mastic or other resinous matter. 

The asphalt rock of Limmer, which is the largest source of 
paving material of this kind in Germany, has the following 
composition, according to a single analysis reported from the 
School of Mines, Columbia College, New York: 


Bitumen (products soluble in bisulphide carbon).8.26 

Clay.4.98 

Carbonate of lime.56.50 

Carbonate of magnesia. 27.01 

Oxide of iron.3.21 


The limestone in all these cases, whether pure carbonate of 
lime or magnesian, exists in a finely divided state, and is inti¬ 
mately united with the asphalt. The bond is broken by the 
application of heat. The reduction to a powder is also facili¬ 
tated by mechanical means. 

In constructing the surface of street pavements, nothing but 
the limestone itself, properly prepared, is used; in sidewalks, a 
small percentage of Trinidad asphalt is added. 

While traction on these pavements, and the wear and tear of 
vehicles employed, are reduced to their lowest figures, an im¬ 
portant objection to them is their slipperiness. In wet weather, 
especially, they prove treacherous and injurious to horses, for 
falling is vastly more frequent on these than on any other kinds 
of streets in the cities in which they are laid. 

No native asphaltic limestone has yet been used for street¬ 
making in the United States. The dolomites of Upper Silurian 
age in Ohio and Indiana frequently carry a notable quantity of 
bituminous matter in their composition ; but they do not appar¬ 
ently reach a high enough percentage to warrant their use for 
paving purposes, and their structure may also be ill-ada pted to 
this purpose. It is claimed that the Rocky Mountains contain, 
at several points, limestones of the same character as those of 
the European localities already named ; but no practical demon¬ 
stration of the claim has been made—at least, none on a large 
scale. A small amount of Cuban asphalt rock has been laid 
in the United States during the last few years ; but it has 
not proved in any degree satisfactory. 

It may be noted in passing, that the representatives of the 







AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 215 

French bituminous limestones have undertaken to monopolize 
the word u asphalt for the product of their quarries—a use 
which neither the scientific nor the practical world will allow. 
The name already used in this connection is the proper one, 
viz.: bituminous limestone. 

Bituminous Sandstones. 

Sandstones of various grain are frequently charged with 
petroleum, oxidized to a greater or less degree, as has been 
explained and described in the preceding section. American 
practice has recently demonstrated the possibility of construct¬ 
ing street pavements from this form of the rock, after the fash¬ 
ion of the pavements of bituminous limestone of Europe. The 
work was begun in California, and, until the last three years, 
has been mainly confined to that State. But, even there, the 
first pavements of this character do not go further back than 
1880, and no adequate scientific investigation of the materials 
employed has been undertaken. 

Bituminous rock is found in California in large quantities in 
a belt of country bordering the coast, extending, with more or 
less interruption, from 50 miles below San Francisco to the south¬ 
ern boundary of the State. The counties of San Luis Obispo, 
Ventura and Los Angeles are among the chief sources thus far, 
and within them bituminous rock is found in vast amount. It 
is found in equally large amount in Santa Clara and Santa Bar¬ 
bara counties, and, probably, in several others as well. Unlim¬ 
ited quantities of material can be supplied, carrying from 12 to 
20 per cent, of bituminous matter, binding together sands and 
clays of comparatively recent geological age, and that, perhaps, 
have not been consolidated in the form of strata, except by 
means of the asphalt, since they were accumulated in their 
present relations. The formations in which these beds have 
mainly been found are Pliocene and Miocene Tertiary; or, 
in other words, the latest of all the scale, the glacial drift- 
beds alone being excepted. As to their exact chemical compo¬ 
sition, almost every thing in regard to them remains to be 
learned. It is to be observed that the asphalt rock, so called, 
is but one phase of these bituminous accumulations. Consid¬ 
erable bodies of crude asphalt are met with, which run as high 


216 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


as 60 or even 70 per cent, of fixed bitumen. These deposits are 
known as gilsonite, uintahite, &c. 

In estimating the practical value of these various deposits, it 
is considered necessary to distinguish between the asphalt base 
and the paraffine base in the bituminous rock. Only that por¬ 
tion of the original bitumen, which assumes the first-named 
form, is counted fully available for street-making materials; 
but, thus far, the distinction has not been adequately applied. 
The eminent French engineer, Malo, in his several treatises on 
this general subject, gives chemical tests for distinguishing 
asphalt from tar, which he styles ‘‘the poison of asphalt;” 
but the materials, thus far found most accessible, have been 
used without much regard to their particular composition. 

What constitutes the bulk of the rock asphalt? Most per¬ 
sons, superficially acquainted with the native material, would 
unhesitatingly answer, that the bulk of it is sand, and many 
would add, coarse sand. There are numerous cases, certainly, 
in which neither of these statements is true. The results of a 
careful analysis of the Ventura rock asphalt, by Prof. J. W. 
Hilgard, of the University of California, show the following 
composition (Tenth Annual Report of State Mineralogist, 1890, 
page 766): 

1. Main body, 51 feet from surface. 

2. Average of four analyses. 



Loss at 217° F., water and volatile oil . 

Total asphaltum. 

Ash. 


2.45 
20 . 



2.37 

20 . 

77.65- 


The ash in these specimens is here seen to constitute three- 
quarters of the mass. Professor Hilgard reports the ash to be 
a fine silicious clay, containing but little sand, and a small per¬ 
centage (8 per cent.) of carbonate of lime. Occasional streaks 
of sand and gravel are found in the clay, however. 

In other analyses of the asphalt rock, an excessively fine¬ 
grained sand is shown to constitute the residue. In no case, 
so far as my information goes, does coarse sand constitute the 
mass of the rock. 














AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 217 

Street-making from these materials was begun in Los Angeles 
a few years since, but their use has since been extended to a 
number of other cities and towns, as San Francisco, Santa Bar¬ 
bara, San Diego, and Fresno; but the testimony available at 
the present time is not entirely harmonious as to ultimate value 
of these streets. The best results thus far are credited to Los 
Angeles. It is generally believed that a great addition has been 
made to the resources of cities in street-making material, es¬ 
pecially for residence streets, where the travel is light; but it 
has been demonstrated that the rock in its native state can not 
endure the traffic of a great business street. The pavements 
are soft when laid, and never acquire a high degree of hardness. 
A horse standing on a pavement, or a loaded wagon passing over 
it, will cause depressions in the surface, but if the pavement is 
of approved quality, these disappear when the weight is with¬ 
drawn, or when it is otherwise applied. Different grades of 
rock are selected for different localities, the temperature to 
which the pavement is to be exposed being one of the princi¬ 
pal factors. Fresno, for example, demands material that can 
endure a higher summer temperature than Santa Barbara. The 
beds have been generally uplifted since they were formed, and 
presumably since they were charged with petroleum, and they 
now stand, in many cases, at angles of thirty or more degrees 
to the horizon.* 

As intimated above, it is too soon to draw conclusions as to 
the durability and real value of these California asphalt streets. 
The work thus far has been altogether experimental, and the 
materials used have not, by any means, been mastered. The 
assurances of permanence that are so confidently offered by 
companies and contractors are not warranted by any thing 
that these parties know. Some road-ways seem much better 
than others, and when proper scientific investigation has been 
brought to bear on the questions involved, it is to be hoped 
that ready means can be pointed out for distinguishing and 
selecting the most desirable materials. 

Within the last four years the utilization of the Kentucky 
asphalt rock for street-making has been begun, principally 


* For many of the facts pertaining to California asphalts, I am indebted to 
Messrs. A. S. Cooper and A. T. Bates, of Santa Barbara. 



218 REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 

through the agency of Dr. W. J. Breyfogle, of Louisville, to 
whom the Survey is indebted for every facility in acquiring 
the facts as to the natural exposures of the rock. Dr. Brey¬ 
fogle seems to be the lirst person who recognized or assumed 
an analogy between the California and the Kentucky rock, or 
at least the first one who took the necessary steps to put the 
new material to the proof as paving material. During 1888 
and ’89 Dr. Breyfogle examined many of the outcrops of the 
tar sandstone through a half dozen counties within the general 
belt named above, and concluded his work by gaining posses¬ 
sion of many of the more promising beds of this material. 
During 1889, under his direction, trial blocks of pavement 
were laid in various cities, and companies were formed at dif¬ 
ferent centers to carry forward the work of street-making by 
the use of the new material. In 1890 the companies thus or¬ 
ganized began their work on an energetic scale, at least in 
some localities. In Ohio, streets have been laid with the Ken¬ 
tucky rock asphalt, as the new material is designated, in sev¬ 
eral cities. Two streets, and one or two sample blocks beside, 
have been laid in Columbus, most of the work having been 
done in the last three months of 1890. The most conspicuous 
sample is laid in front of the United States Government Build¬ 
ing, in which the jiost-office and other public offices are estab¬ 
lished. The test afforded by this block will be a fair one when 
completed. While the travel upon it is not of the heaviest 
sort, ii is fairly constant, and horses are left standing upon 
the pavement at frequent intervals through the day. The 
charge lias been made that this sample has been tampered 
with in spots by pouring coal oil upon it. The present year 
(1891) will probably demonstrate the character of the new 
material and its adaptation to street-making in its native 
state. As to the streets that have been laid in the city, dif¬ 
ferent opinions are entertained, both by property-owners along 
their lines, and also by experts. The principal criticism is 
directed to the want of hardness in the asphalt surface. 

Hie reader will perceive that even if California rock asphalt 
were proved to be a thoroughly successful street-paving ma¬ 
terial, we should have no right to assume that Kentucky 
rock asphalt would also serve equally well for this use. The 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


219 


Kentucky asphalt has a coarse sand for its base, while the 
California rock, as shown in the preceding statements, consists 
in the main of clay and very line-grained sand. Whether the 
asphalt or the paraffine base predominates in the Kentucky 
rock has yet to be determined. In other words, this new ma¬ 
terial must establish its claims independently. The molasse 
of Switzerland is a coarse sandstone, which is sometimes im¬ 
pregnated with a notable percentage of asphalt, but Neale 
rejects it entirely from his list of road-making material. 

I append the careful statement of Mr. Charles B. Palmer, of 
Columbus, as to the work done on one of the two streets 
named above. Mr. Palmer was appointed superintendent of 
the improvement on Woodruff avenue, in the interest of the 
property-owners, by the Board of Public Works. He brought 
to his duties not only personal interest and good judgment, 
but also habits of careful observation. His opinion is, on the 
whole, favorable as to the possibilities of the new material. 
His statement bears date January 25, 1891. 

STATEMENT OF CHAS. B. PALMER, ESQ. 

The paving of Woodruff and Ninth avenues, in this city, during the past season, 
was an interesting event, as heing the first instance of the use of Kentucky lock 
asphalt, or bituminous sandstone, for paving purposes, in Ohio. The new material 
has attracted a great deal of public attention, and produced an animated discus¬ 
sion among our citizens as to its merits. 

In the construction of these pavements, the wearing surface was laid on a six- 
inch foundation, made in the usual manner, the road-bed having been first prop¬ 
erly graded and rolled with a sixteen-ton steam roller. The road-way was 30 feet 
wide, with a six-inch crown. The proportion of materials used in the concrete was 
one part cement to^two parts sand, and four of broken stone. Upon this was laid 
the wearing surface of rock asphalt, two inches in thickness after compacting. The 
material was prepared by being finely ground, heated by steam, spread on the street 
and rolled, the intention being to merely change the form, leaving it on the street 
as nearly as possible in its natural state. The grinding and heating were done by 
machinery specially constructed for the purpose. The heating was done in a large 
revolving steam cylinder. On being received from the heater, the material was 
hauled to the street in gravel beds covered with canvas, dumped on the street, 
spread with shovels, and^ raked down to the proper thickness. It was first rolled 
with a light, hot roller, and then with a 500-pound hand roller. The material com¬ 
pacts by rolling about two-fifths, requiring considerably over three inches of loose 

material to make two inches after rolling. 

Naturally, with a new material, new company, new machinery, and inexpc 
rienoed workmen, a good many difficulties were encountered, which can be avoided 


22 0 


REPORT ON PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS 


in future work. The contractors made every effort to secure the best results; but, 
as might be expected, there were some imperfections in their work. 

Judging from my limited experience, the most important points to be guarded 
are— 

1. Quality of Material .—Like most natural products, the bituminous rock varies 
in quality, shading off from the best to the worthless, depending upon the propor¬ 
tion of bituminous matter which it contains. The best quality is jet black in color, 
and adheres like putty, when pressed between the fingers. If brownish in color, and 
inclining to crumble apart rather than adhere, it should be rejected. 

2. Grinding .—It should be finely granulated. Lumps of unground material the 
size of hickory nuts are objectionable, especially if left near the surface of the work. 

3. Heating .—The specifications under which the contract was executed required a 
temperature of 250 degrees F. when placed on the street, and, in m} T judgment, this 
is a very proper and necessary requirement. It is true that this material can be 
compacted to a certain extent when cold, and when left in piles after being ground it 
speedily consolidates into a mass which can, with difficulty be separated with a pick 
From this it is argued that a high degree of heat is unnecessary; but in practice this 
idea is found to be erroneous. The hot material makes by far the smoothest and most 
compact pavement, and will undoubtedly be the most durable. The imperfectly 
heated material remains rougher and more porous, and will not compact by rolling 
to the required thickness, or rather thinness. Worst of all, such portions of the work 
show indications of crumbling with use, while the rest remains smooth and tough. 
I am, therefore, led to believe that the heating of the material is a point of very 
great importance in making a good pavement with this product. I think that a 
temperature of at least 200 degrees F., when actually spread on the street, is neces¬ 
sary to secure the best results. For various reasons it was found impossible to main¬ 
tain a satisfactory temperature, chiefly on account of the street and the heater being 
three miles apart, with cold fall winds blowing a large part of the time. It seldom 
exceeded 150 degrees, and often fell below 100. A great many loads were sent back 
to be reheated. None of the work is, therefore, a really fair sample of what may be 
expected of the material when handled in the best manner. 

4. Rolling .—After being spread on the street very hot, it should be thoroughly 
compacted. It will require further experiment to determine the best way to do 
this. In the present case, nothing heavier than a 500-pound hand-roller was used in 
compacting the material at the time of laying. A few days later, a corrugated iron 
horse roller was used, consisting of ten cast iron wheels, each three inches wide, 
with alternate spaces of the same width. This machine was said to weigh about 
th ree tons. As it seemed to have but little effect upon the cold pavement, it was, 
at my suggestion, weighted with over two tons of pig iron. In this condition, it 
produced a decided effect, and was evidently beneficial, working and kneading the 
pavement—which, though cold, was still somewhat plastic—smoothing out inequali¬ 
ties, and making it more compact. I was strongly impressed, however, with the 
idea that it should be more thoroughly compressed while soft, than can be done 
with a 500-pound roller. This opinion was sustained by the City Engineer and the 
Board of Public Works, and the contractors, therefore, ordered a five-ton steam 
roller. But, much to my regret, it could not be obtained in time to test it before 
our street was finished. It was claimed by the contractors that a five-ton roller is 


AND ASPHALT ROCK IN WESTERN KENTUCKY. 


221 


too heavy; that it will crush the material out of place, if used while the work is 
soft. A very short trial would have settled the question; but it was not done. If 
five tons is too heavy, it should be determined by experiment what is the greatest 
weight that can be used without injury to the work, and a roller constructed to meet 
the case. It is interesting to note in this connection that tamping and ironing seem 
to produce better results than rolling, and the idea has been suggested of a tamp¬ 
ing machine to take the place of a roller. 

In conclusion, it may be said that while it is too much to expect that the first 
attempts to use a new material will be entirely satisfactory, the results so far ob¬ 
tained are, on the whole, sufficiently encouraging to warrant the prediction that 
Kentucky rock asphalt will be extensively used for street paving. If the present 
methods of manipulation are not the best, better ones will be found. If it should 
be found desirable to produce a slight modification in quality by the addition of 
some substance, there is no reason why it should not be done. It took years of 
careful experiment to bring the mixture, known as “ Trinidad asphalt,” to its pres¬ 
ent state of efficiency; and it will be strange if a material, which exists in great 
abundance near the center of population of the United States, and which comes 
from the hand of nature so nearly what is required for a pavement of the best class, 
shall not, by a little skillful treatment, be perfected, and made to supply this im¬ 
portant demand. 

Note.— The year that has passed since the above statements were prepared ha3 
given a fairer opportunity to judge of the merits of the rock-asphalt than had been 
afforded up to that time. It is a pleasure to report that the streets in Columbus, 
which were surfaced with it, present a much more favorable appearance than they 
did one year ago. The asphalt has grown harder and more compact in this interval, 
while still retaining a measure of elasticity. It now appears to the writer that the 
rock-asphalt, when properly handled, is likely to become a paving material of great 
value. E- 



INDEX 


A. 





PAGE. 

Allen county wells. 



. . . . 145, 146, 147, 149 

Anemometer—use of. 




Anticlines—arrested. 




as reservoirs. 




The Cincinnati. 



. 77, 138, 139 

formation of. 



.75 

gas from, in Pennsylvania field . . 



.82, 83 

gas wells on. 



.79 

gas wells on domes. 



.80 

gas wells on slope of ..... . 



.80 

influence of . 



.76 

Pittsburg supply from. 



.80 

reservoirs under. 



.80 

The Rough Creek. 



. . 140, 141, 199, 203, 205 

size of, to contain gas. 



.79 

Arrangement of oil-bearing rocks .... 



. . . 73 

Arrangement of rocks. 




Arrested anticlines. 



.81 

Artesian theory. 




Artificial gas. 




Asphalt. 




as cement. 



. 6 

as paving material. 




bituminous matter in. 




composition of. 




Cuban. 




derivation of. 




formed from mineral tar. 




for streets . 




from Deep Sea. 




from Gulf of Mexico. 




horizon of. 




in Big Clifty, s. s. 




in Breckinridge county. 




in Central America. 




in Egypt. 












































INDEX. 


223 


Asphalt in rocks of Ohio Valley. 

in West Indies. 

occurrence in Old World . 
on Island of Trinidad . . 

utilization of. 

Asphalt rock. 

in Chester sandstones. . . 
on Columbus, Ohio, streets 


B. 

Baku oil field. 

Barbadoes tar. 

Barren county—oil rocks in. 

section . . 

wells. 

Berea grit. 

Big Clifty sandstone—asphalt in. 

Bird’s-eye limestone. 

Bitumen—as fuel. 

on Mediterranean Sea. 

Bituminous limestones. 

Bituminous sandstones. 

in California. 

Bituminous series. 

Bituminous shale. 

Black shale. 

Blue-grass beds. 

Bradford field. 

sands. 

Breckinridge cannel coal. 

Breckinridge county—asphalt in. 

gas in. 

tar springs. 

Burksville—drilling at. 

geology at. 

oil well at. 

reservoir. 

c. 

California—bituminous minerals of ... . 

origin of petroleum in. 

Canada—oil fields of. 

petroleum in limestones. 

Canada way creek.- • • • • 

Canal-Dover well . .. 

Casings. 

in Findlay district. 


PAGE. 

.30 

. 8 

. 6 

52, 53, 54, 57 

.212 

205, 209, 210 
. . 209, 210 
.219 


. 9 

.54 

.151 

.150 

.149 

. 45, 46, 59 

.209 

.129 

. 6 

. 7 

.213 

. 205, 215 

.215 

.30 

.35 

69, 133, 138, 145, 150, 151 

.130 

.82 

.66, 71 

.16 

.207 

.191 

.207 

.145 

.145 

.14, 96, 144 

.145 


. 38 
. 43 
. 36 
. 43 
. 22 
. 46 

. 13 
. 88 














































224 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Caves. 63 

Central Indiana—gas in.26 

■Chalybeate hills.203 

Chazy limestone.128 

fossils of.129 

■Chemung shales.\ . 22, 41 

Chemical composition of natural gas. .. 106, 108, 109, 110 

Chester group.135, 143 

Cincinnati anticline. 77, 138, 139 

Clay—affinity for oil.54, 55 

Cloverport gas field.191, 205 

geology at. 191 

paraffine oil at.16 

wells.'.191 

Coal Measures. 136, 138, 143 

Coal Measure plants.37, 38 

Composition of Findlay gas.107 

Conglomerate age.37 

Corniferous limestone.37, 50 

Covers of reservoirs.72, 73 

Cuban asphalt.54 

Cumberland county oil field.144 


D. 

Davis well, Meade county.174 

Dayton, Ohio, well.46 

Destructive distillation . .48, 49 

Devonian limestones.132, 137 

Devonian shales.36, 40 

Dips in Western Kentucky . ..138 

Discovery of natural gas.91 

Discovery of petroleum.91 

Drilling at Burksville.145 

cost of.105 

for salt in 1833. . .. 11 

of oil wells.19 

of salt wells.24 

E. 

Elevations in Western Kentucky .138 

Evansville wells.. . 197 

F. 

Fault at Hawesville.139 

in Livingston, Caldwell and Crittenden counties.140 









































INDEX, 


225 


PAGE. 

Findlay, Ohio—composition of gas. 107 

gas for heating.26 

gas in limestone.67, 68 

gas struck at.25 

natural gas at.23 

terrace structure at.82 

Fire-damp.107 

First National Gas Company.180 

Frankfort well.165 

Fredonia, N. Y.26 

natural gas at.22 

Fuel value of natural gas.110 

G. 

Gasometer.23 

Gas wells in Breckinridge county.191 

at Cloverport.191 

at Evansville.197 

at Hawesville.194 

at Henderson.194 

in Meade county.170 

measurements of.117 

at Owensboro.194 

at Smithland.198 

at Stephensport.191 

at Tell City.194 

in Webster county.196 

at West Point. 182 

General section from Frankfort to Owensboro.139 

Geology at Breckinridge Tar Springs.207 

at Henderson.195 

of natural gas.62 

of petroleum.62 

at Sebree, Webster county.201 

Geological indications—anticlines.97 

arrangement of rocks.99 

order of series.98 

Geological scale of Western Kentucky.127, 128 

Geological structure of Western Kentucky.137 

Glasgow oil field.152, 153 

H. 

Hamilton shales.22 

Hawesville—fault at. 139 

well at.194 

Henderson wells.194 

GEOL. ST T H.—15 













































226 


INDEX. 


Highland Lick Salt-Works 
Hopkinsville well .... 
Hudson river group . . . 

Hunt’s theory. 

Huron shale. 


PAGE. 


204 

162 


.131, 145 

36, 42, 43, 49, 50, 55, 57 
.40 


I. 

llluminants from petroleum. 

Indiana gas field. 


19 

25 


K. 

Kanawha Valley.17, 23 

salt well.24 

Keokuk series.-.134 

Kentucky Rock Gas Company (now styled “Kentucky Heating and Lighting 

Gas Company. 177, 180, 185 


L. 


Lagrange—geology at.167 

wells at. 165, 166, 167, 168 

Lake asphaltites. 7 

Lead mines in Livingston county.140 

Leases.. 

Limestones as reservoirs.67 

bearing oil.63, 64 

Limestone oils.. 

Lines of disturbance.. 

Livingston county—lead mines in.. 


faults in.. 

Lower Silurian shales.. 

system. . 

Louisville—geology at.. 

wells at .*.165, 169 

Lubricating oil.. 


M. 

Marsh gas. 

McLean county wells. 

Meade county—Davis well. 

drainage. ... 

First National Gas Company .... 

gas field. 

gas in shales. 

gas pressure in. 

geology of. 

geological section in. 

Kentucky Rock Gas Company . . . 


. . 5, 59, 107 
. . 199, 200 

.174 

.171 

..... 180 

.205 

.69 

.190 

.170 

.175 

. 177, 180, 185 









































INDEX. 


221 


PAGE. 

Meacle county—manufacture of salt.. 

Moreman well.. 

Morernan Salt-Works.. 

origin of gas.. 

Otter creek wells. Igl 

preliminary report. Igg 

structure of gas field.. 

summary. 2 g 2 

terrace structure in. g.> 

Union Gas Company.174 176 

utilization of gas.jg,- 

wells .170, 173 

Meade county gas—specific gravity of. 100 

Measurement of gas wells.. 

anemometer.. 

Pitot tube. 120 

steam gauge. 122 

Menhaden oil. 45 

Meters.116 

Mineral pitch as cement. 6 

Mineral resources of the United States.26 

Mineral tar. 5 

derived from petroleum.5, 29 

in Euphrates Valley. 6 

in West Indies. 8 

occurrence in Old World. 6 

Moreman Salt-Works . . ..172 

Moreman well.171, 184 

Mountain sands. 66 

N. 

Naphtha. 17 

Natural gas . 0 

accumulation of.63 

at Fredonia, N. ..22 

chemical composition.106 

discovery.21, 91 

duration of supply.28 

first uses of . ^2 

for artificial light.H'3 

for domestic fuel.HI 

for fuel in Ohio.23 

for general use. ^6 

for heating. ^6 

for illumination. ^' 

for making glass. 25, 26, 112 














































228 


INDEX. 


Natural gas for making Iron ....... 

for making salt. 

for manufactures. 

for production of steam. 

formation of. 

from Caspian Sea. 

from peat bogs. 

fuel value of. 

geology of. 

history of in United States. 

in Berea Grit. 

in Central Indiana. 

in China. 

in Indiana... 

in Ohio shales. 

in rocks of Ohio Valley. 

in salt wells.. 

in South America. 

in Trenton limestone. 

meters for. 

odor of. 

origin of . 

physical properties. 

specific gravity. 

struck at Findlay, Ohio. 

transportation of. 

utilization of. 

Newberry’s theory. 

0 . 

Odor of natural gas. 

Ohio shale. 

gas and oil springs in. 

in Kentucky. 

surface indications on. 

Ohio Valley--rocks of. 

Oil as medicinal agent. 

Oil-bearing rocks—arrangement of. 

Oil break in West Virginia. 

Oil fields of Canada. 

of Cumberland county. 

in Northern Ohio. 

Oil from animal remains. 

from Caspian Sea. 

in China.. 

in South America. 

history of in the United States . 


PAGE. 
. . 2 & 

23, 26 
. . 112 

26, 112 
28, 29 


.34 

..110 

.62 

.. 9 

.45 

.26 

. 7 

.25 

.22, 23 

.30 

.13, 24 

. 8 

. ... 43 

.116 

.105, 106 

.27, 36 

.105 

.106 

.25 

.114 

.... 13, 25, 103 
39, 42, 43, 48, 49, 58 


. . . 105 
22, 45, 50 
. . . 69 
. . . 96 
. . . 96 
. . . 30 
. . . 8 
. . . 73 
. . . 76 
. . . 36 
. . . 144 
... 21 
. . 44, 45 
. . . 7 

. . . 7 

. . . 8 

. . . 9 

















































INDEX. 


229 


PAGE 

Oil rock in Barren county.. 

Oil sands.. 

of Venango county, Pennsylvania.38 

Oil springs of Allegheny Valley. 8 

of Breckinridge county. 207 

of Grayson county. 209 

on Huron shale. 40 

of Western New York. 8 

of Western Pennsylvania. 16 

Oil wells in Allen county. 145 , 146 , 147 , 149 

in Barren county. 149 

at Burksville. 144 

at Glasgow.152 to 157 

at Hopkinsville.162 

Motley well, Allen county.149 

Porter well.' . 147 

in Warren county.157, 162 

Venango county, Pennsylvania.16, 17, 66 

Otter creek wells.181 

Owensboro well.194 


P. 

Paraffine. 

Paraffine oil. 

Peckham’s theory. 

Petroleum—accumulation of. 

amount exported. 

amount in rocks. 

annual products. 

average price. 

by destructive distillation. 

chemical origin. 

derived from organic matter. 

discovery of. 

duration of supply. 

early history. 

formation of. . . . . 

formed from naphtha. 

from primary decomposition . . . . 

geology of. 

gravity of. 

horizon of. 

Hunt’s theory. 

illuminants from . ..- . 

in Berea Grit. 

in Central and South America. . . . 


. 15, 17 

.15, 16 

41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49 

.63 

.17 

.60 

.17 

*..18 

.39 

.31, 32, 33 

.60 

.91 

.28 

. 5 

. 28, 29, 30 

. 5 

. . . ..36 

.62 

.29 

.37 

.36, 42 

.19 

.45 

.55 














































INDEX. 


230 


PAGE. 

Petroleum in conglomerate.36 

in corniferous limestone.37 

in limestones. 36, 43, 69, 60 

in New York.2ft 

in Ohio.20 

in Ohio Valley.9, 16, 30 

in pebble rock.67 

in salt wells.13 

in sandstones. 36, 59, 60 

in shales. 49, 50, 59, 60 

in Trenton limestone.43 

in Western Pennsylvania.... 8 

in West Virginia. . ..20 

modern history of. 9 

NeAvberry’s theory.39, 42 

New York wells.17 

organic origin.34 

origin from distillation.38 

origin in California, Kentucky, Canada and Ohio.43 

origin in Eastern Ohio.55, 56 

origin in Pennsylvania. 43, 55, 56 

origin of. 27, 31, 36, 37, 43 

Peck ham’s theory.41, 42 

Pennsylvania wells.17 

production of...61 

production in Western Kentucky.143 

production per square mile.. . 72 

refining of.19 

search for.20, 21 

temperature of production.46, 60 

transfer of. 37 

used in Burmah. 7 

used by Persians. 7 

Physical properties of natural gas.105 

Pipe lines.114 

Pitot tube.120 

Pittsburg—natural gas at.26 

Portage shales.22, 40 

Porter oil well.147 

Production of oil per square mile. 72 

Production of petroleum.61 

R. 

Reservoirs. 63, 66, 69, 70 

at Burksville.145 

covers.72 















































INDEX. 


281 


Reservoirs—discovery of . . . . 

extent of. 

in limestones. 

in sandstones. 

in shales. 

permeability of. 

Rock drilling—American system 

for salt water. 

Rock oil as a lubricant. 

as a medicinal agent . . . 
as a source of light . . . 

of Ohio. 

used by Indians. 

Rock pressure. 

table of. 

theory of . 

Rough creek anticline. 


s. 

Salt—gas first used for making. 

manufacture in Meade county .... 

in Ohio Valley. 

price of. 

Salt water—composition of. 

in Louisville well. 

in West Virginia. 

presence in oil and gas wells .... 

rise in wells. 

source of. 

source of pressure on. 

specific gravity. 

Salt-works—Highland Lick, Webster county 

Meade county. 

Sandstones as reservoirs. 

Sebree wells. 

Section in Barren county. 

geological in Meade county. 

at Pearl Ford, Grayson county . . . 

Sumner county, Tennessee. 

Whitestone quarry, Warren county . 

Seneca oil. 

Shales as reservoirs. 

in Ohio and Kentucky. 

Shawneetown, Illinois, well. 

Smart’s tar spring. 

Smithland well. 


PAGE. 

. 91 

. 70 

. 67 

. 64 

. 69 

. 70 , 71 

. 16 

. 16 

. 14 

. 14 

. 14 

. 40 

. 13 

. 86 , 89 

. 89 

. 90 

140 , 141 , 199 , 203 , 205 


. . 26 

, . 190 
. 9 , 10 
. 10 
. 85 
, . 169 
. 11 
. 83 
85 , 87 
. 83 
. 85 
. 88 
. 204 
. 172 
. 64 
. 201 
. 150 
. 175 
. 210 
. 151 
. 158 
. 14 
. 69 
. 22 
. 205 
. 208 
. 198 















































232 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Specific gravity of natural gas.106 

Specific gravity of salt water. 88 

Spontaneous distillation.48 

Springfield, Ohio, well.46 

Standard Oil Company.19 

Steam gauge.122 

Stepliensport wells.191 

St. Louis group. 50, 135, 138 

Strata in Kentucky.74 

Subcarboniferous limestone...60, 61 

Sulphur springs. . . 204 

Surface indications. 62, 94, 95, 96, 97 

tar springs. 96 


T. 


Tables—chemical composition of natural gas. 108, 109, 110 

discharge of gas wells per day.124 

of rock pressure.89 

temperature of flowing gas.126 

temperature of storage of gas.126 

Tar at Barbadoes. 8 

Tar springs as surface indications.96 

of Breckinridge county.• . . 207 

of Grayson county. 209 

origin of. 209, 212 

Smart’s.208 

Tell City well.. 


Terrace structure. 

Tertiary shales. 

Test wells. 

Transportation of natural gas 

Trenton limestone. 

composition of . . . . 

porosity of.. 

salt water in. 

Trinidad asphalt. 

Trial wells. 


.81, 82, 83 

.54 

. 203, 204 

.114 

25, 36, 43, 46, 50, 87, 99, 102, 104. 130, 148, 149, 165 

.68 

. 68 , 69 

.88 

.* ' '. 52, 54, 57 

.93 


u. 


Union Gas Company. 174 jyg 

Upper Silurian.132, 137 , 145 


Utilization of natural gas 


Venango county, Pennsylvania . 



64 


v 









































INDEX. 


233 


w. 


PAGE. 

Warren county wells .. .. 157, 162 

Warren sands.66 

Webster county wells.196 

Wells near Calhoun.200 

at Canal-Dover, Ohio.46 

at Cleveland rolling mill .. 46 

at Dayton, Ohio.46 

at Frankfort.165 

at Highland Lick, Webster county.204 

at Lagrange.165, 168 

at Louisville.165, 169 

in McLean county. 199 

at Sebree.201 

at Shawneetown, Illinois.205 

at Springfield, Ohio. 46 

Western Kentucky—dips in.138 

elevations.138 

geological scale.127, 128 

geological structure.137 

products of petroleum.143 

Westinghouse well.46 

Western Pennsylvania oil springs.16 

West Point gas wells.182 

Wild-cat wells. 92 

geol. see.—16 



















































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